


unfinished vixx fic compilation

by letfelicitysoar



Category: VIXX
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-05
Updated: 2017-12-16
Packaged: 2019-01-29 18:19:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 48,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12636573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/letfelicitysoar/pseuds/letfelicitysoar
Summary: all of my unfinished vixx fic that i will most likely never finish. i will be adding them as i go through them in my drive and titling them by either au or what i have them titled as in docs.i didn't really consider making a compilation like this because i always assumed i would finish all the fic i started for vixx, but recently i was going through them and i realized i started a lot more than i originally thought i did. i didn't want to share them unless they were finished, but : // a lot of these i know in my heart i will never work on again so i'm going to share them! please keep in mind that a lot of them are /very/ short and do not lead anywhere and need editing, but i still want to share them because i think at least one or two of you will enjoy them even if they abruptly end. idk if i will continue to write fic for vixx as my feelings have changed, but please read these with good thoughts! ♡ ♡ ♡





	1. hyuken - little shit baby hyuk au

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this was written around the beginning of oct 2015, it's a hyuken au where they start off as babies and gradually grow up together! it's meant to be light and cute and was originally a collab between my friend and i.

When Sanghyuk is three, he comes home with Hakyeon for the first time. He doesn’t remember much --  _ he’s only three _ \-- but he hears enough stories from everyone to know that he’s shy at first, is quiet and listens carefully, though that’s hard to do when you’re  _ three _ . But he knows immediately that Hakyeon loves him, so by the end of the month he’s become a terror and pees all over Hakyeon during potty training time and he doesn’t feel the slightest bit of guilt when his face breaks out into a huge grin. It doesn’t stop there as Sanghyuk enjoys dumping banana milk on the floor instead of drinking it, he also finds an artistic streak in himself by squirting out all of Hakyeon’s moisturizes and spreading it on the walls. It’s hell, but Sanghyuk’s been told that he’s the greatest thing to ever happen to Hakyeon.

After his fifth birthday is when Hakyeon takes him to kindergarten. Sanghyuk’s been to daycares before, but kindergarten is a little different, Hakyeon tells him. He’s going to have to start  _ learning _ things like math and writing. Sanghyuk already knows all his colors and shapes, he’s got the alphabet down and can count to twenty with his fingers and toes, but holding a pencil and writing things on a sheet of paper that make sense is a feat all in itself. It isn’t so bad though, he meets an older boy who went to school too early so he got held back, he makes silly faces and always has snacks to share, so Sanghyuk makes him his friend. His name is Jaehwan, but for the first few weeks, Sanghyuk calls him Ken because he carries around a plastic barbie doll and calls it his girlfriend. 

Jaehwan has a dad too, but no mom, just like Sanghyuk. Hakyeon gets along with him really well, but Sanghyuk finds him terrifying the first time he sees him come pick up Jaehwan after school. He’s tall, taller than Hakyeon and he’s got really huge shoulders and sharp, squinty eyes that make him look angry all the time. 

“Woonie appa isn’t scary,” Jaehwan affirms strongly, his arms crossed and lips puffed out. “He’s soft. Like a kitty cat.”

But Sanghyuk thinks he’s more like a lion, ready to pounce and eat Sanghyuk up, especially when he glances over at the child, a torn look on his face as if he’s unsure if he should approach him or not. It isn’t until Hakyeon walks him over, hand in hand and smiles warmly at Sanghyuk before directing that smile at Jaehwan’s dad. “This is Taekwoon-ah. Say hello to him, Sanghyuk.”

Taekwoon is shy, but Sanghyuk doesn’t know this, he just thinks the other is  _ scary _ , despite what Jaehwan says. It takes a long time --  _ months of playdates and afterschool car rides home whenever Hakyeon’s schedule has overflowed and he can’t pick up Sanghyuk himself _ \-- before Sanghyuk finally warms up to Taekwoon and it’s mostly through Jaehwan’s consistency and the fact that Taekwoon’s home is filled with all the best sorts of toys and candies. Hakyeon had called it  _ bribing _ back then, Taekwoon settled for  _ winning over Sanghyuk’s love _ . 

By the second grade, Jaehwan is no longer in the same class with Sanghyuk anymore. He gets bumped up to the third grade, but Sanghyuk manages to make new friends. There’s Namjoo and Jackson, as well as another really funny boy named Sungjae who has the coolest hot wheels. Sungjae has a really wide smile and limbs like spaghetti noodles and he makes Sanghyuk laugh so hard that the banana milk Hakyeon packs him spills right out of his nose during lunch time. 

“Sounds like a clown,” Jaehwan sniffs whenever Sanghyuk brings him up. 

“You’re a clown too,” Sanghyuk snorts out, laughing even harder at the look of indignation Jaehwan gives him. 

“Do you like him better than me?” Jaehwan mutters under his breath, juice straw partially in his mouth and Sanghyuk blinks at him.

“I like you the most,” he answers honestly because Jaehwan  _ is _ his favorite. Hakyeon is an adult so he doesn’t count, Taekwoon comes in right after Hakyeon.

“I like you the most too,” Jaehwan says right before strutting his bottom jaw out and making a silly face, resulting in Sanghyuk bursting into giggles and tackling him in a hug. They break out into a tickle fight that ends with Jaehwan mostly laying on top of Sanghyuk and hugging him, making him completely immobile. Sanghyuk swears that day that he’ll grow even bigger than Jaehwan so that he won’t be able to do that anymore when they wrestle. 

Fourth grade is a change, mostly at home where new neighbors move in and it’s two boys.  _ Wonsik and Hongbin _ , Hakyeon tells him, they’re both in college and Hongbin used to work for a daycare, so on days where Hakyeon is especially busy with work, Sanghyuk will go next door to be babysat. At first, Sanghyuk thinks Hongbin is  _ extremely weird _ . He’s awkward and nervous and his eyeballs look like they’ll pop out whenever he tries to force a smile at Sanghyuk. He’s nice though, he gives Sanghyuk whatever junk food it is he wants and he lets Sanghyuk watch all the Japanese cartoons he likes, but eventually he does warm up once Sanghyuk tells him he likes the photos that hang in their apartment. Hongbin tells him that he took them in highschool and got them printed and framed once he finally moved out of his parent’s house. He smiles fondly about it and his eyeballs are perfectly fine when he does so, so Sanghyuk decides he likes Hongbin. 

Wonsik is an instant like though, he’s loud and rowdy and chases Sanghyuk around the living room, even pretending to be a monster one time, but that game had to stop when Wonsik’s spinning noodle attack ended with a broken window and Hongbin was  _ furious _ . 

The biggest change is when Hakyeon has to work overtime one night and it’s last minute, but Sanghyuk goes over to Wonsik and Hongbin’s place to be watched, ultimately ruining all their romantic date plans. Hakyeon apologizes profusely and promises to buy them a new dishwasher, to which Hongbin agrees much too easily to because  _ Wonsik never washes the fucking dishes _ . It’s late into the night and Sanghyuk is sleepy, but he’s allowed to watch all the anime he wants at this point, the lights in the living room are off and the other two males are sitting on the couch behind him as he lays on the floor, trying hard to fight off the soothing comfort of sleep. He decides he needs a glass of water if he’s going to make it past 10PM tonight, but when turns to ask Hongbin for one, he sees something he never really thought the other two did -- or that any two males did. 

Hongbin’s legs are stretched across Wonsik’s lap (and that’s not really weird, the two are usually always draped over each other, but so is Sanghyuk to Jaehwan so he’s never thought about it being  _ weird _ ) and both have their eyes closed and Wonsik’s hands are in Hongbin’s hair and they both seem so sucked into their own world and they’re  _ kissing _ . Sanghyuk’s eyes are wide and he knows it’s rude to stare, but they’re kissing --  _ with him in the room _ \-- and he knows that people can kiss whoever they want, but he’s never really thought about two  _ boys _ kissing, especially because he only ever sees a man and woman who are a couple do it before and this isn’t something Hakyeon goes over with his nine year old son. 

But it doesn’t bother him. It’s actually kind of sweet in a way, because in Sanghyuk’s mind, only married people do this, so Hongbin and Wonsik must be married, right? 

“We’re not,” Hongbin explains minutes later after he’s kicked Wonsik away to the other side of the couch when he realized Sanghyuk had caught notice of them. 

“But…” Sanghyuk furrows his eyebrows in confusion, “I thought you kiss the person you marry only.” 

“Boyfriends and girlfriend kiss too,” Wonsik divulges, rubbing the back of his head with his hand. “Kissing is for the people you like.” 

“Oh,” Sanghyuk mumbles, his brain processing the new information. “So, hyungs are boyfriends with each other?” 

“Y-Yeah,” Hongbin nods. His eyeballs are doing that almost popping out thing.

“And you’re boyfriends because you like each other, right?” 

Wonsik nods this time, “Yes, of course.” 

That’s the gist of it, Sanghyuk understands. Kissing is for the people you like. 

It’s cute at first, when Sanghyuk pecks Hakyeon on the cheek or chin, it’s a new side of affection that Sanghyuk’s showing and Hakyeon’s cuddles and kisses are usually rejected, but Sanghyuk accepts them now with the mindset that Hakyeon must like him a lot. It’s especially cute whenever Sanghyuk will lean up to Taekwoon and kiss him on the cheek goodbye when they leave for home (Taekwoon glowing like a flare), but then it stops being all cute when Sanghyuk hugs Jaehwan farewell and presses very chaste lips directly onto Jaehwan’s and Hakyeon screams. 

“Hyukkie,” Hakyeon says sternly when they’re at home, his hands trembling by his side. “That’s something only mommy’s and daddy’s do. It’s what married people do.” 

“That’s not true!” Sanghyuk retorts, “I saw Hongbin hyung in Wonsik hyung’s lap and they were kissing! But they aren’t married, right? So I asked and Wonsik hyung said it’s okay to do it with someone you like.” 

The trembling in Hakyeon’s hands spreads to his entire body and he is  _ so _ not buying those two a new dishwasher. Wonsik just better learn to use disposable plates and silverware. “You kissed Jaehwan on the  _ lips _ , are you saying you like him better than me?” 

Sanghyuk folds his arms defiantly and Hakyeon has no idea where he even gets this attitude from. “That’s ridiculous. You and Taekwoonie hyung are just too tall for me to reach. Jaewhwannie is the perfect height!” 

Hakyeon’s frown lines only deepen. “You can’t go around kissing Jaehwan like that. You have to kiss someone you really love, Hyukkie.” 

And that’s the last straw because Sanghyuk stomps his foot and looks Hakyeon dead in the eye. “ _ I love Jaehwan _ .” 

Hakyeon is in a constant state of mortification after that when Sanghyuk goes on a strike and reverts back to rejecting any displays of affection from Hakyeon, but continuously pressing innocent kisses to Jaehwan’s lips whenever the two meet. Taekwoon on the other hand, finds the entire ordeal absolutely adorable and by the time the two are about to enter middle school, he has two whole memory cards filled with photos of Sanghyuk kissing Jaehwan. 

It’s Sanghyuk’s eleventh birthday when he decides he wants to have a sleepover instead of a regular birthday party. He invites Jaehwan --  _ indefinitely _ \-- and a few of his closest classmates, though Jackson is the only who is unable to make it, having gone back to Hong Kong for the summer. Jaehwan’s slept over before, countless of times and he knows Sanghyuk’s house just as well as his own, but he’s twelve now and tells Taekwoon that he can make it there on his own (it’s a few blocks away by foot and Jaehwan has memorized most of the trip there) and Taekwoon is hesitant, but Jaehwan is persistent. So, Taekwoon lets him have his way, at least partially, he follows Jaehwan with his car (sunglasses fixed right on his nose) and adamantly ignores the strange looks he gets from the neighborhood moms. Unfortunately, Jaehwan gets lost (he didn’t know the way as well as he thought) and the two show up late to the sleepover, but Jaehwan is pleased when Sanghyuk’s face lights up at the his arrival. In an instant, Sanghyuk is wrapping arms around his neck, lips warm against his as that warmth easily spreads through his cheeks and through the rest of his body. 

He still isn’t used to the kissing. It’s been almost two years, but it still surprises him, still makes his toes tingle and his face hot. He never reacts much, just a shy smile afterwards and then a silly grin to push down the rising in his stomach. 

“Happy birthday, Hyukkie!” He bounces and hands him the brightly colored gift bag. It’s a headband from one of Sanghyuk’s favorite animes, dark blue and inscribed with the swirly leaf sign. Jaehwan had saved up two months of allowance just to buy it for Sanghyuk and the smile he gets from the other is thanks enough (but Sanghyuk’s nose bumping against his skin and the feel of soft lips on his cheek is a much better sensation and Jaehwan wonders what differs from this kiss and the others, because he likes this one so much more than before). 

And it’s at this sleepover birthday party that Jaehwan meets Sungjae for the first time. 

It starts off innocent enough -- Sanghyuk wanting to play spin the bottle, Hakyeon crying into Taekwoon’s shoulder. Namjoo kissing Sungjae, Sungjae spinning the bottle next. Jaehwan doesn’t really see it coming until the bottle that Sungjae spins lands right on Sanghyuk and suddenly the two are giggling shyly, leaning across the living floor, lips about to meet and--

“Cake time!” Hakyeon screams louder than Jaehwan has ever heard from the older male and part of him is relieved while another part of him is thoroughly confused at what just happened -- or what was about to. 

The rest of the party goes without much incident, Seolhyun spills her soda and Hakyeon whines about having to clean it up, but pours her a new cup and tells her it’s okay. Taekwoon mildly frightens a few children, but they all get over it when he smiles softly and offers them a second helping of cake. Sungjae and Sanghyuk briefly vanish for a short period of time and Jaehwan is alarmed until they both return, Sanghyuk’s shirt soaked and thick tears rolling down his cheeks. Sungjae’s birthday prank had gone awry. It results in Sanghyuk’s sleeping bag being pressed right up against Jaehwan’s, a stray hand coming to rest lightly on his wrist as the two breathe in unison. 

In middle school, the kisses altogether stop. Jaehwan is year ahead of Sanghyuk still, so there’s the year where they don’t even attend the same school and it’s hell and Jaehwan spends every free second he can at Sanghyuk’s house, even to the point where Hakyeon just picks him up from school and takes him straight over. Jaehwan knows Hakyeon loves him just as much as Taekwoon does, otherwise, why else would he even let him within a radius of his precious baby Sanghyuk. 

Like a mantra, Jaehwan tells himself everyday for that entire school year that it’s only for a while before he and Sanghyuk will be attending school together again and that gets him through most of it until it’s the first day of the new year and


	2. hyuken - paradigms

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> more hyuken yay. this one i think? they go to school? in the u.s? i cant rmbr much even though i started it in march of 2016.

Saturday night isn’t as sparkly or exciting as Sanghyuk had pictured it to be, sitting cross legged on the ratty old rug in Jaehwan’s bedroom, sipping on Hawaiian Punch and streaming some very old ancient anime that Jaehwan is most currently into. This was supposed to be the night that Sanghyuk broke free of his ‘loser’ status appointed to him by the much older kids at school, he was after all, personally invited to one of Hongbin’s parties by the junior himself. He was missing the opportunity of a lifetime all because of his mother’s desire to turn him into some kind of no-friend geek like his neighbor, Jaehwan.

“You just don’t get it, Jaehwan. He’s barely seventeen and he’s like, the most popular dude at school.  _ Everyone _ likes him.” 

“Shh, this is the part where Miaka first meets Tamahome.”

“This anime is old and boring,” says Sanghyuk out of spite, grumpy that Jaehwan could care less about his perrills. 

“Technically, it came out the same year that you were born. With that logic, you’re old and boring too.” 

“This is why I’m your only friend,” he grumbles, tossing a pillow at Jaehwan which spills red punch all over the gray-but-used-to-be-white rug. 

“Hyuk!” Jaehwan exclaims, standing immediately to dab at his neon green sweater with his sleeves, a counter-productive measure. “You didn’t have to come over to ruin my weeknight if you didn’t want to! I’m trying to enjoy my show!” 

To that, Sanghyuk stands as well, harumphing at Jaehwan. “It isn’t like my own weeknight was ruined! You don’t even care!” 

“Of course I don’t care that you didn’t get to go to some dumb party and become another statistic in minors getting drunk and impregnated. Sorry for not indulging into your teenage worries.” 

“Stop trying to act like you’re so above everything,” he can’t help but stammer, feeling his fist clench at his side. Jaehwan can be such a dick when he wants to. “I’m going home.” 

“You do that,” Jaehwan scoffs, pulling off his horrid sweater to soak up the spilled punch. Sanghyuk doesn’t bother looking back and he’s thankful that Jaehwan’s mother is out so that she doesn’t hear him when he screams loudly and slams the front door, stomping over to his house just across the yard. His own mother is oblivious to his loud footsteps as he climbs the stairs up to his room, grumbling the entire way. 

It isn’t unusual for him to get into little fights with Jaehwan, the two having known each since Sanghyuk’s family first moved in five years ago, when he was still in elementary school and Jaehwan was the cool older kid who always had the latest video games and a really neat pet lizard named Leo. It feels like a century now, compared to their current selves. Jaehwan, a high school dropout who is unemployed and living off of his parents instead of joining his peers at some prestigious university overlooking the sea. Sanghyuk had felt like the person he looked up to was not as great as his 4th grader self had made him out to be. 

“Stupid Jaehwan and his stupid anime and stupid dickhead personality,” he continues to curse, peeling off his clothes and slipping into bed even though it’s hardly passed 9PM. 

They didn’t used to fight as often or at all if Sanghyuk thinks about it. It was after Jaehwan stopped attending school that he became more sour, the former image of a soft boy with endless smiles seeming to burn deep down in a bottomless pit. He’s still just as nice of course, but sometimes Sanghyuk feels like Jaehwan has become much more far off than his memory serves. 

A minute before the hands on Sanghyuk’s wall clock turn to strike midnight is when the tiny buzz of his cell phone wakes him, sluggishly making him squint through the harsh light at the text blaring on it’s screen. 

Of all things, an apology. 

The text is obviously from Jaehwan and Sanghyuk has received many like it before and almost automatically, he responds with his own words of apology. After that, he finally falls asleep. 

Monday, is like any other day, mostly. He wakes up, washes up and eats his father’s disgusting cooking on the basis that his mother works early in the morning and can’t feed her own children, then hitches a ride with his older sister to school and meets up with Sungjae in the parking lot. 

“Hey asshat, where were you on Saturday? I sent you like ten messages, all of which have been unread thank you very much.”

“Morning to you too,” Sanghyuk snorts, affectionately ruining Sungjae’s hair with a pat to his head. “I was at home.” 

“Home? What ever for when you had plans!” He screeches out, appalled at Sanghyuk’s bravado. 

“Mom wouldn’t let me anyways,” Sanghyuk says, making his way to the school’s entrance, Sungjae in tow. “I doubt I missed anything anyways.”

“Stop trying to act like you totally weren’t throwing a fit about it. You could have just snuck out or something,” Sungjae says matter of fact before slinging an arm over Sanghyuk’s shoulder and leaning in to whisper, “Hongbin was looking for you.”

Begrudgingly, Sanghyuk’s entire face turns red at that and it takes all of his will power to remind him that they are at school and Sungjae is laughing his ass off at his reaction. “Oh, shut up,” he says, swatting his arm not so gently at Sungjae. “As if, you douche.” 

“But he was! He kept asking me, I tried to call you to tell you, but you didn’t pick up.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it was going to be a thing where hyuk is smitten with hongbin and hongbin is a v nice boy to him, but doesn't feel that way about him. meanwhile jaehwan is a recluse who is v much in love w hyuk, but he stopped going to school due to bullying. he ofc never tells hyuk about the reason he dropped out, but his character in this fic was molded to just kind of not tell hyuk anything, he doesn't want to burden the younger dude w his problems and would rather shoulder them alone.


	3. hyukbin - when a nightmare finally does unfold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> i started this in 2015 and was v compelled to write a hyukbin vampire au. i'm a little sad that i lost the feel for this almost immediately.

It’s like any Sunday evening, Sanghyuk nestled in between Hongbin’s legs with all the others huddled together by the television set, watching the latest installment of that really bad detective show Jaehwan’s so attached to. Wonsik’s probably asleep on Taekwoon’s shoulder and Hakyeon probably is too, but Sanghyuk doesn’t bother with turning his head to look, the fingers in his hair comforting and he doesn’t want to disturb them as Hongbin hums softly. When the show is over, Jaehwan stretches and goes off to the bathroom while Wonsik lets out a sleepy yawn and mumbles something having to do with a dream, but Sanghyuk is occupied by the warmth of Hongbin’s chest leaving his back.

“Come on, I’ll walk you home,” says Hongbin when he stands, arms stretched upwards and his shirt pulls up enough to reveal a tiny bit of belly.

Sanghyuk grins, “Okay.” 

They take the long way back to Sanghyuk’s place, Hongbin’s hand wrapped casually around Sanghyuk’s. The winter air bites at their skin and Sanghyuk can see the little spots of red forming on Hongbin’s nose and cheeks, he looks childlike right now. It isn’t snowing at the moment, but there’s still leftover clumps of white on the road from last night, the soft crunch of it under Sanghyuk’s boots is a sound he’s always liked and he maneuvers himself and Hongbin to the side everytime he sees an untouched pile of snow. It makes Hongbin laugh and he presses a very warm kiss to the corner of Sanghyuk’s head, the other would blush if he could. 

“Are we in love?” Sanghyuk asks suddenly, his voice is just above a whisper. 

Hongbin stops in his tracks and blinks a few times before replying with, “Maybe.” 

That makes Sanghyuk snort and he pulls on the other’s hand, urging him to continue walking him home. The conversation ends there and in comfortable silence the two wind up in front of Sanghyuk’s front door, the neighborhood dog barking just across the street. He pauses for a moment before Hongbin’s lips are on his, warm, always  _ always _ warm and it’s chaste and sweet, the beating in the older boy’s chest reverberating through Sanghyuk as their fronts press together. Hongbin takes a step back, face tinted red and he licks his lips before nodding shyly. 

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he says. 

“Yeah,” is all that Sanghyuk can muster and as he watches Hongbin’s retreating figure, his fingers come to graze softly on his lips, the lips Hongbin’s just kissed. 

\---

There’s blood dripping from his lips, in small crimson drops they hit the floor and Sanghyuk peers down at his latest victim, a girl of just about twenty, her eyes still wide in horror but just as still as her no longer flowing pulse. He looks at her face briefly before shutting his eyes, erasing the fresh memory and as he stands, the blood trails messily down his chin and onto his shirt. Sanghyuk lets out a tired sigh, it’s been a long night and he’s still feeling the adrenaline buzz through his head, filling him with excitement that  _ something _ , something will happen soon. 

But not tonight, not when he’s so tired and feeling stretched out, his limbs growing taut as the moon peeks through a puff of clouds, glowing brightly in the darkness. He takes a few steps back and hits the cold concrete wall, uneven bricks nudging into his back. The last few days he’s been feeling off, been feeling too exhausted and too drained, as if slowly his life (or whatever is really left of his life) is being sucked right out of him. It doesn’t matter how many times a night he’ll feed, how much blood he drinks and how many dead eyes he has to look into, the feeling of impending doom doesn’t seem to want to leave. 

On his walk back to his apartment he sees a scratched out billboard displaying a poster of some cheesy romance film. Sanghyuk’s lips curl at the sight, a movie about a human and a vampire falling in  _ love _ , he scoffs. As if such a thing could really happen. 

\---

“So,” Hongbin rolls around in the bedsheets, the material wrapping around his body. “I’ve been thinking about moving out.”

“Really?” Sanghyuk asks automatically without much curiosity, his eyes too focused on the game of solitaire on his phone. 

“Yes,” says Hongbin, his voice going suddenly low. “I’ll need a new place to stay at.”

Sanghyuk’s finger freezes in the air and he blinks at Hongbin before frowning, "What are you getting at?" 

"I-" he starts and then shakes his head. "Nothing, nevermind."

"No, tell me," says Sanghyuk, abandoning his phone on the dresser to go over and sit beside Hongbin, still wrapped in the sheets. 


	4. hyuken - four times around the sun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this one is kind of all over the place. it dates back to 2014 to when i first got into vixx!

day four is when jaehwan kicks his shoes off when he enters the apartment, stumbling in over sanghyuk’s abandoned chucks and almost dropping the box in his hands. he’s tempted to just trip and lay on the floor, to call attention to himself and have sanghyuk coo over his incompetence. but the thought is shoved away by the growling coming from his stomach and he continues stumbling his way over to the coffee table, dropping the box of pizza on it’s glass surface. jaehwan doesn’t need to bother with calling him, sanghyuk will come when he’s ready or when the smell of warm food reaches his bedroom.

it’s after jaehwan’s settled in his seat on the worn leather couch and is going through his third slice that sanghyuk does in fact come out of his man cave, brow furrowed and clothed in nothing but a stained t-shirt and light gray (“dark white!”) basketball shorts.

“it’s cold as hell, why are you dressed like that?” jaehwan inquires between bites of his pizza, sauce painting his lips unattractively. 

“hyung,” sanghyuk says in a tone that jaehwan thinks is cute because sanghyuk sounds like he’s trying to be older. “hell isn’t cold. at all.” 

“you know what i mean,” jaehwan laughs and the sight isn’t pretty. “come eat.”

sanghyuk takes the empty spot by jaehwan but doesn’t bother with the pizza, his face still scrunched up like he’s been pressed up against a glass wall. “i’m lactose intolerant.” 

“oh,” jaehwan says and then nods slowly. “okay.” 

he goes back to eating his slice before a solid minute passes by and sanghyuk says, “you don’t know what that is, do you?”

“uhm, yeah…” jaehwan pauses, but doesn’t look at the other. “it’s when you uh, don’t tolerate the lack of toast.” 

there’s a long sigh and jaehwan knows it’s sanghyuk because it isn’t him making that sound and there’s no one else in the apartment. 

“hyung,” says sanghyuk, that same tone as before. “i can’t have dairy products, i get mad stomach issues.” 

“what? why have i never heard of this?” 

“i’ve told you a thousand times!” 

“no,” jaehwan shakes his head, “no, i think i would remember.”

“you don’t even remember your own phone number,” says sanghyuk, sighing again, this time laying back against the sofa cushions. “nevermind, i’m going back to my room.” 

“wait!” he yells after sanghyuk who’s beginning to stand. “i swear, i didn’t mean anything by it. you can still eat.”

“hyu-” 

before sanghyuk can even start to use that condescending tone on jaehwan, the elder’s already pulling him down, coaxing him into his lap. 


	5. hyuken - maybe this could be my haven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> from what i can remember of this, i wanted to write something a little dark, but also still light? idk this one is also all over the place.

it wasn’t anything notable before but the longer that sanghyuk stays in this place, the more frequently it happens. mostly just the little things are always standing out in all the wrong places at all the wrong times and sanghyuk at first thought it was sungjae or kwangmin playing a prank on him until he hears the singing. it isn’t sungjae’s voice and most  _ definitely _ not kwangmin, but then that just leaves the question of who’s voice is it? 

“ghost?” kwangmin supplies, stuffing his face with tonkatsu. 

“no that’s stupid,” sanghyuk says. ghosts aren’t real and even if they were, it’s a very bad stereotype that kwangmin is (has been) putting onto the old mansion that sanghyuk inherited from his great-grandparents. they were an ancient couple, lived much longer than anyone had anticipated and sanghyuk had never met them before, but luck played out rather smoothly for him when he decided to drop out of college and therefore lost his dorm. the house has been unoccupied for over twenty years though, dust and mold housing every corner of the room, it took sanghyuk nearly a month just to clean most of it up (with the unfortunate help of sungjae and kwangmin who were not much help after all, but bless youngmin and minwoo for stepping up to lend a hand). 

“sure it wasn’t just sungjae hiding in a closet or something trying to scare you?” namjoo offers, giving kwangmin a look of disgust. sanghyuk enjoys seeing that look, especially when it’s directed towards kwangmin. 

“he was with donggeun hyung in the states that weekend.” 

“maybe it was me?” kwangmin says after swallowing, bits of rice stuck to his cheeks. 

namjoo just sighs in defeat, she doesn’t understand why she chooses a bunch of boys for company over her many leagues of female friends from university. “sanghyuk, maybe you left the stereo on.”

“see, that’s the thing, i haven’t been able to get the electricity working yet. some guy’s supposed to come tomorrow and check it out.” 

“i’m telling you. one-hundred and something year old mansion literally screams ghosts.” kwangmin says again, shoveling more food into his mouth. “if i were you, i’d bring a buddy to stay over.”

“like you?” sanghyuk asks.

“no, like namjoo. she’s manly, she’ll protect you.” 

and to that, kwangmin gets hit. 

\---

namjoo does in fact come over, though she doesn’t intend to sleep over. the house is old, but still in good condition, so he doesn’t worry about her possibly hurting herself. there’s still a lot of fixing up to do and sanghyuk’s exhausted nearly all his cash on it, but he figures that the safety precautions of the house is the most important thing right now before he decides to start making it feel more like a  _ home _ . even though it hasn’t had any people living in it for so long, there’s still furniture in it, the classy victorian style kind with plastic wrapped all over and lemon pine scrubbed so deep into the wood the smell has stuck for so long. 

namjoo likes it though, she’s always had a taste for old things like this and that’s why sanghyuk’s invited her over. she explores the place on her own for a bit and while sanghyuk tries to get the wifi on his phone to work he occasionally will hear a gasp or giggle throughout the house.

“sanghyuk,” she calls minutes later, entering the living room.

“hm?”

“come over, i wanna ask you something.” 

“just ask me here,” he groans. she always does this. she’ll bring you to lord knows where and make you jump through hoops before getting to the point. 

“no, i need to show you something!” she stomps her foot and  _ how childish is she even being right now _ .

namjoo is very lucky that she is down right adorable or sanghyuk would already be telling her to go home (like what he does to sungjae on a regular basis). she grins when she wins and takes him by the hand, pulling him down one of the halls and then stopping abruptly at the end, a very large and ornate dining cabinet standing in front of them. he raises a brow at her.

“this is what you wanted to show me?” 

she rolls her eyes, “no. look, i managed to push it a little but i’m not strong enough. there’s a door behind it.” 

and indeed, sanghyuk can see the outline of a doorframe from the corner of the cabinet.  _ huh _ , he thinks. he hasn’t moved a single bit of furniture since entering the house, leaving everything where it originally was, save for moving a vase or two to dust underneath it. so of course he wouldn’t notice the  _ door _ behind the dining cabinet. but then it’s exactly like namjoo to have noticed it, her senses and curiosity was always much more than any of the boys. 

“what do you think behind’s it?” she asks and taps a finger to her chin.

“probably another guest bedroom or something,” sanghyuk answers. there’s at least five rooms solely made for the purpose of housing guests and sanghyuk figures that any one of his friends would take advantage of that.

“why would it be blocked off like this though?” 

“i don’t know,” he says honestly and it’s a few second before she speaks again.

“well?” she waits.

“well… what?”

“you gonna move the cabinet or what?” 

sanghyuk scoffs at that, “yeah right. that thing looks five-hundred pounds, i’m surprised you even got it an inch away from the door. maybe kwangmin was right, maybe you are man-”

“i don’t think you want to finish that sentence,” namjoo says, hands on her hip and a scowl on her face. sanghyuk clears his throat and pulls on her elbow.

“come on, i’ll walk you to the bus stop.” 

\---

the next girl he brings over is yooyoung and that’s only because she was the only person he knew that could hook him up with free internet connection by wiring it to the old electronics shop down the street. he doesn’t know her too well, she was in his economics class and briefly dated minwoo, but other than that sanghyuk can’t even recall if he’s ever said anything over six words to her. 

“that should do it,” she says, a small smile on her lips but her eyes are wide and sanghyuk has seen her  _ real _ smile before. her eyes would be closed in crescents. 

“thanks,” says sanghyuk awkwardly. it’s  _ so _ awkward. it was awkward just asking for her help on this. minwoo had suggested her but he refused to ask for sanghyuk and when sanghyuk tried to get namjoo to do it, she shoved a grape up his nose. 

“well, i guess i’ll just get go-” 

they both pause after hearing something drop.   
  
_ something very heavy and loud dropping _ .


	6. hyuken - sting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> something of an x-men/mutant au.

The clock is ticking.

1, 2, 3. He can feel the heat seeping in through his clothes now. 

“You’re on fire,” Ken says through the glass, his voice playing all around Sanghyuk’s head as if Ken himself is in there. Impossible, they had met outside once, it was raining and there was the faint smell of burning bread if Sanghyuk recalls correctly. 

Three more ticks from the clock and Sanghyuk can tell that he’s been exhausted. 

“Well,” Leo says softly when Sanghyuk blinks open his eyes, white walls flooding his vision. “No one died this time, I guess that’s good.”

“What happened?” 

It is N who answers him this time, emerging from what seems to be the shadows. Sanghyuk blinks up at the pristine ceiling. “You almost set the whole building on fire, Sanghyuk.” 

“Now that’s not really news,” he grumbles, but Leo side eyes him. Sanghyuk snaps his mouth shut. 

“So,” N drawls out. “You still can’t control it?”

“If I have a nightmare and I combust it isn’t really my fault,” he confesses, recalling the rain and the smell of smoke. “Is Ken okay? He was there, wasn’t he?” 

“Yes. He’s doing fine,” Leo says calmly, so it must be the truth. Sanghyuk relaxes a little. “Lay’s healing is incredibly fast.” 

“Why am I in here?” Sanghyuk asks, the off white of the walls making his head spin. 

N rubs the back of his neck, frowning. “Right, well. Kris, you know him right? Big, scary, blond? He doesn’t figure you as a very useful aspect to the team considering you randomly combust half the time. Anyways, you’re on timeout for the time being. This is your new room, fire retardant walls and bed and what have you.”

“This is a joke,” Sanghyuk says, eyes screwing shut. “I am going to wake up and both Sungyeol and Chanyeol will annoyingly invite me out for lessons and teach me  _ not _ to set things on fire.”

“We wish it was,” Leo sighs, brushing the back of Sanghyuk’s hand softly with his fingers. “Ken wasn’t very helpful in the incident last night.”

“How bad was the damage then?”

“The whole floor is charred black, it’s a miracle no one actually did die.” 

Sanghyuk winces at that. He’s never been the best at what he was born with, but he takes pride in never setting whole buildings ablaze. “So, what? I just sit here all day doing nothing now?”

“For now, yes.” N strides over to his beside, a sad smile on his face. “Leo and I will drop by as often as we can.”

“I’m totally looking forward to that,” Sanghyuk says as sarcastically as he can, earning a whack on the forehead from N. 

They leave the room after that, silence filling every space in between the ticking in Sanghyuk’s head. He really wished he could properly remember his dream last night. It isn’t the first time he’s had accidents like this, it was an accident that led him to this institute, a supposed home for those with strange talents such as he and the rest of it’s residents. Lay, for example, the thin man with droopy eyes was best known for his healing. Sanghyuk had only seen it up close once when he walked into the infirmary to get Sungjae some pain killers. Lay is classified as a projector, one whose talents come out visibly from it’s source, resulting in his healing to have a soft green glow that engulfs his target. Personally, Sanghyuk finds the whole thing to be creepy. 

“You’ll set yourself on fire if you keep concentrating like that,” Seolhyun says, the transparency of her skin turning an even lighter shade of blue. Sanghyuk can remember when she used to be a milky coffee color, sun kissed skin wet from the water in the training pool. 

“You look like a water nymph,” he says, head suddenly aching. He’s so bored. “Besides, I can’t set things on fire with my mind. It’d just be too easy.” 

“Well, your will comes from within your mind so I think it’s simple enough,” she shrugs, the motion making her hair wisp around as if she were under water. 

She isn’t even human anymore.

“How’s training,” he asks out of boredom and curiosity. 

Seolhyun looks pleased at the question none the less. “I can almost evaporate completely into the water now. It feels so much freer like that. Like I  _ am _ the water.”

The thought alone is quite terrifying to Sanghyuk, thinking that Seolhyun could easily slip into his morning shower like a snake in the grass. When they had first met, she couldn’t even get a single drop of water to stay in place as it rolled down the wall, now, she’s probably capable of causing tidal waves. Ironic, he has always thought, that she and he would become friends. 

“It isn’t weird?”

“At first I thought it would be,” she says, a sad look in her eye. “Not having a body after all, but it feels right somehow. Feels as if the water is my body.” 

She’s lucky then. Sanghyuk has never once felt right with his body set ablaze, everything he touches turning into ash. The sensation has always been horrifying. 

“You’ll be back training with us in time,” she reassures once more, pretty blue eyes sparkling like something right out of a fairy tale. She definitely isn’t human anymore. 

The ticking in his head stops momentarily as she turns to leave, making Sanghyuk instantly realize that honestly, she never was. And neither is he. 

It’s weeks upon weeks that he finds himself holed up until Kei comes down to get him. If Seolhyun is a water nymph, Kei must be a woodland one. Lime green skin and large brown eyes meet Sanghyuk’s when the latch to his imprisonment is open, a blooming smile on her face greets him. 

“Well, the third floor is definitely repaired and Kris doesn’t seem mad anymore,” she tells him, voice sweet and high. “You can move back into your room whenever you’re ready.” 

“And Ken?” He asks, knowing the other hasn’t seen him in all this time. “What about him?”

“He’s moved in with Hyunsik,” she explains, leading Sanghyuk up flights of stairs. They must have kept him underground. Less oxygen, makes sense.


	7. hyukeo - porn stars au

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> to be very honest, this one makes me laugh. as i was re-reading it, i thought "this doesn't even sound like me but i remember writing it so i guess this was me" 
> 
> this is a porn starts au where jaehwan is in love with his filming partner hyuk and doesn't get along with the newbie taekwoon, but enjoys taekwoon's dick anyways. it is very short.

“It isn’t my fault that Jaehwan has such a fat ass.”

At that, Jaehwan makes an absolutely scandalized face, to which, of course Sanghyuk ignores in favor of complaining even more to Hakyeon, who is only half listening. 

“It looks nice on camera though? Lots of people are always posting on the comments board about his ass, so I mean--”

“You hear that? Hakyeon loves my ass--”

“That isn’t what he said,” Sanghyuk interrupts. “He said other people do.”

He can only squint at Sanghyuk with offence, feeling suddenly very unappreciated for allowing the younger male access to his ass every week with his dick. It’s a little insulting, really, the words that spill from his mouth right after.

“I want a new partner.” 

\---

In Jaehwan’s opinion, Taekwoon is boring. 

He’s good looking, of course, but that’s usually after there’s been makeup caked on his face and his bird’s nest of a hair is styled up prettily to match with Sanghyuk’s natural beauty. It’s hate on first sight when he watches the new comer bend Sanghyuk over a counter and fuck him, playing the role of a customer who comes in everyday for coffee, only to draw the attention of the barista. It’s corny, all the films they make are corny, but still good enough to pay Jaehwan’s rent and give him a little extra to eat and buy Sanghyuk nonsensical gifts such as the little plastic dinosaur he glued onto the dashboard of Sanghyuk’s car. 

Aside from filming porn together, they do see each other outside of work hours, mainly at Jaehwan’s expense to get the other’s attention and suck up all his free time. 

But, Taekwoon is a negative factor into the equation. The odd end pulling apart all of Jaehwan’s work. He frowns at this.

“You don’t have to like him,” Hakyeon says, annoyed. “It isn’t like you have any scenes with him.”

“That’s the problem, all his scenes are with Sanghyuk,” Jaehwan whines, even more annoyed than Hakyeon. “Where’d you even find him?” 

“He was my old college roommate, needed money or something and he looked like Hyuk’s type too so--”

“Trust me, he is definitely not Sanghyuk’s type.” Jaehwan frowns deeper, more annoyed now and he prods at Hakyeon’s shoulder with his finger, “I am.”

The elder rolls his eyes and dismisses Jaehwan for the day.

\---

Taekwoon is a bore, but he fucks like he’s the big, exciting rollercoaster at an amusement park. Jaehwan’s fat ass is a little bit in love.


	8. hyukenbin - strike three and you're out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this is a soulmate au. i'm not really into soulmate aus so i can't really remember why i thought about writing this.

the first one that sanghyuk meets is hongbin. it’s crowded and he almost misses him in the coffee house but it’s taekwoon that points out the similar scars etched softly against both their wrist bones, the barista shyly grinning when his eyes land on sanghyuk’s. 

“hi,” he says and his voice is tiny but so is sanghyuk’s when he replies. 

the attraction comes instantly,  _ naturally _ like his parents and teachers have always said it would. he feels his hands shake in anticipation, but other than that, his heart rate is normal and his palms are dry. it’s almost a  _ calm _ feeling he feels, like yes, this is the  _ one _ , this is the one who sanghyuk will love more than anything else and will receive the same. this is his  _ soulmate _ . the barista looks the same, has the same expression, sanghyuk thinks. he must feel the same too, he must be both shocked yet happily pleased that  _ yes, i have found the one _ .

sanghyuk thinks he’s handsome, very beautiful and put together like a sculpture. he’s got a strong jaw (but so does sanghyuk) and these eyes, these clear beautiful eyes that sanghyuk thinks he could look into all day and never want to look anyone else in the eyes ever again. hongbin is his name and sanghyuk feels the attraction, he feels it stronger than when he had that crush on namjoo when they were in grade seven. 

they don’t immediately start dating after that, but they exchange numbers and sanghyuk finds his bones aching whenever he doesn’t reply to a text or misses a phone call (which is missing the opportunity to hear hongbin’s voice and something about that makes him ache even more). the first date they have is simple, hongbin smiling awkwardly and sanghyuk shyly reaching for his hand. he was seventeen then, hongbin being the elder with two years in advance. it was harder then, but sanghyuk didn’t realize it, he had thought he found his soulmate, the _ one _ person he’d spend forever with and be most compatible with. 

school got in the way, naturally, but they worked around it, hongbin always taking sundays off from the cafe to spend with sanghyuk. those days seemed so long ago, so simple. every little bruise or scratch that sanghyuk would get would easily show up on hongbin’s pale skin and sanghyuk didn’t feel the least bit sorry, but neither did hongbin whenever he accidentally tripped and the pain of landing on his ass would shoot up through both his and sanghyuk’s spines. 

it scared sanghyuk the first time it happened with him and hongbin, when they both got so  _ angry _ . he knew they shared the same pain and burdens, but he never fully understood that they shared every huge spike of emotion that coursed through at least one of them. he didn’t understand, he didn’t know who got angry first but it happened and they were throwing things and yelling at each other for _ no reason _ . sanghyuk spent the day with taekwoon, but even though taekwoon adored sanghyuk, he too had little tolerance for sanghyuk’s attitude. it passed though, quickly enough where both sanghyuk and hongbin felt embarrassed and apologized to each other. 

but slowly other things happened. weirder things. things that neither of them could explain to each other. when the flower shaped bruise appeared on sanghyuk’s arm, he thought hongbin had been hurt one way or another at school or work, but when the other male had asked sanghyuk about it, neither had been the cause for it. then the hickey that appeared on sanghyuk’s neck, he didn’t even know it was there until hakyeon had pointed it out, asking if he and hongbin had already advanced that far in their relationship. 

“hyung, we haven’t even kissed.” sanghyuk replied, worried that perhaps hongbin was being unfaithful. hakyeon quieted after that, patting sanghyuk’s back and telling him maybe he had just seen things wrong on his neck. 

when sanghyuk returned back home that evening, he felt a surge of deep sadness and abandonment and cried until wonsik came over, hongbin glued to his arm. 

“han sanghyuk, you better have a good explanation for this!” wonsik yells, ready to defend hongbin’s honor and sanghyuk only feels even more like shit.

“explanation for what? for hongbin messing around behind my back?” he says and instantly regrets it when he sees the dejected look on his soulmate’s face.

to that, wonsik almost throws a punch right for sanghyuk’s nose, but he holds back for hongbin’s sake. “how dare you accuse him of that, he hasn’t done anything wrong.” 

“then…” sanghyuk looks at hongbin, sees the red coloring the outline of his eyes and the dry skin around his nose. “then why do i have this on my neck?” sanghyuk pulls his shirt collar down, exposes the ugly looking hickey left there on his skin and feels the cold blow against it. “ _ i _ sure as hell don’t know why it’s there.” 

“you…” hongbin stars hesitantly, “you didn’t do anything?”

“no! i was with hakyeon all day studying for midterms.”

wonsik gives sanghyuk a skeptical look but hongbin can feel it, he can feel just how confused and scared sanghyuk is, knows when it’s his own feelings and when it’s not. “then… where did this mark come from?” 

things like that begin to happen more frequently, emotions that are neither of theirs forcing them to feel things they don’t understand and marks appearing where they know weren’t left by the other. sanghyuk worries, maybe he’s done something wrong, maybe hongbin isn’t his soulmate, maybe this is all some sick twisted game to fate. 

but then he meets jaehwan.

jaehwan is nothing like hongbin, he isn’t awkward and doesn’t hesitate to do as he pleases, he’s loud and whimsical, too strong and stand-offish in sanghyuk’s eyes. they meet when sanghyuk drops one of the three textbooks in his arms and jaehwan is the one to pick up the stray book and hand it back. their eyes don’t meet, at least not yet as jaehwan’s fingers graze sanghyuk’s and an electricity he has only ever felt with hongbin shoots through his body, veining from where jaehwan’s hand still stays touching his own.

they look at each other and there’s a pregnant pause before jaehwan drops the textbook (it lands on sanghyuk’s foot and he screams) and yells obnoxiously loud, “you! you’re the idiot who cut his finger last week and the two weeks before, aren’t you? and you burned our elbow, great going you klutz!”

sanghyuk’s mouth drops and he blinks, looks at the other, takes in his way too large nose, way too big lips, and way too big eyes. “y-you felt those? they showed up on you?”

“of course i did!” jaehwan says matter-of-factly. “that makes us soulmates, doesn’t it?” 

“i don’t,” sanghyuk shakes his head. “i didn’t cut myself or burn myself. that wasn’t me. that was hongbin.”

“hongbin…?” there’s something about the way that the other male says his name that has sanghyuk taking a cautious step back. 

“yes. hongbin,  _ my _ soulmate.” 

“then what’s your name?” he asks; takes a step forward. 

“you should introduce yourself before asking for someone else’s name,” sanghyuk says and narrows his eyes.

“right, sorry. i’m lee jaehwan.” he extends a hand towards sanghyuk and he figures it should be harmless. 

but when he takes his hand into his own, sanghyuk immediately regrets it as his body reacts and the attraction starts to break through the confusion and shock.  _ oh no _ , he thinks. “s-sanghyuk. han sanghyuk.” 

“sanghyuk,” jaehwan repeats and sanghyuk feels something shiver down his spine. he likes it, he likes the way his name comes out of jaehwan’s way too big lips. 

jaehwan demands to meet with hongbin immediately and when the three finally meet, all together in one room (hongbin’s studio apartment) there’s a certain fullness sanghyuk never realized was missing when it was just him and hongbin. 

but then a whole new set of emptiness settles in when he sees jaehwan lean in closely to whisper something in hongbin’s ear and he can’t figure out what emotion he feels anymore.

\---

it’s confusing at first, hongbin has to keep track of both sanghyuk and jaehwan now, tries to tell the difference between who’s feeling what and who’s getting hurt where. it isn’t as bad as when he and sanghyuk didn’t know there was a third person, that jaehwan had existed and caused all sorts of spikes of emotions to run through their systems. hongbin discovers quickly that there isn’t much to learn about jaehwan, that because they’re soulmates, most things just come naturally and if there’s one thing hongbin has always excelled at, it’s letting things flow the way they were meant to be.

so even though it’s only been no less than twenty-four hours since he’s met jaehwan, he lets the other come up behind him, nuzzle his nose gently against his neck and mumble out a lazy, “what are you doing?” 

“looking over photos,” hongbin replies, feels his skin tingle and he likes the warmth of jaehwan’s chest pressed to his back. 

“hobby?” jaehwan asks and his eyes glance over the small screen of the camera in hongbin’s hands.

“sort of, i’m trying to make a living off of it. these are from a wedding i was hired to photograph for.” 

jaehwan only lets out a hum, he doesn’t bring his hands to wrap around hongbin’s waist like sanghyuk would have, but he keeps his skin in contact with hongbin’s, warm puffs of breath fanning against hongbin’s neck. they spend the rest of the evening like that, always touching but never too intimately, never too fervently or closely. sanghyuk isn’t present though, he’s at school with hakyeon and taekwoon, cramming for exams in the morning. jaehwan doesn’t leave until the sun sets and hongbin begins to feel a familiar longing he only thought he could feel whenever sanghyuk wasn’t around. 

the sudden shift that happens with sanghyuk is not what hongbin had intended to happen when he had told the other that jaehwan would be moving in with him. it’s slight, the feeling that he sees on sanghyuk’s face, the feeling of  _ betrayal _ that edges it’s way into his head. but what hongbin has discovered in the two years that he’s been dating sanghyuk, is that he knows his soulmate has learned to clear and hide his emotions well. so when sanghyuk does just that, hongbin wonders  _ why? _

nothing drastically changes, aside from the fact that there is a third soulmate (a rare thing, hongbin learned from wonsik, but it is known to happen) and jaehwan’s presence isn’t the least bit forgotten as each day passes. it was strange at first, but hongbin knows it wasn’t just the bond influencing him to allow jaehwan to move in with him. the words tumbled out almost immediately as jaehwan had explained his carefree lifestyle of moving from place to place and living off of mediocre part time jobs he so frequently got fired from. 

“what about sanghyuk?” jaehwan had asked, worry lines etched into his forehead.

and hongbin didn’t understand, when he had asked jaehwan to elaborate, the other shook his head and hongbin lost the words to badger him with. 

so jaehwan occupied the spare room (which up until that point had empty boxes of trash that hongbin’s been too lazy to dump) and everyday becomes something hongbin looks forward to even more now that at least one of his soulmates is close by. 

they don’t do much, just casual touching and light conversation. hongbin immediately feels a sense of trust with jaehwan and though it’s only been a week since he’s met him, he’s content with leaving the studio alone with jaehwan whenever he goes to school or work. then _ it _ happens, the day he returns, door slowly opening as he cradles his camera and a bag of groceries in his arms and when his eyes trail upwards, he finds sanghyuk pinned under jaehwan on the couch. 

\---

in the two years that sanghyuk has been with hongbin, their relationship has been nothing but smooth and simple. the two naturally aren’t very touchy, but sanghyuk will find hongbin draped around him or leaning closer to him than anyone else has ever dared to. he knows that physical contact is always important between them, that their bodies crave it more than anything. but they’ve never been two to experiment, to see how far and how stretched their bond will allow them to go. 

so when taekwoon suggests it, sanghyuk almost immediately gags from reflex. 

“hyung, don’t even joke about that,” sanghyuk says, taking in a deep breath.

“it happened between nara and i once,” he admits, then looks sanghyuk in the eyes. “it hurt her more than me, she was sick for an entire week.” 

“yeah but… it was an accident, right?” sanghyuk asks, avoiding taekwoon’s gaze that has always been far too strong for his tastes.

“yes, i was drunk.” and sanghyuk believes that because taekwoon has never been one to hold his alcohol very well. “i kissed hakyeon and then vomited immediately. ironically it wasn’t because i kissed him, but rather because he wasn’t my soulmate and i had already found nara. we were both sick for a while, but like i said, it affected her more.” 

“why did that happen? you’re the one who kissed hakyeon hyung.” 

“i think it was punishment. for me. i had to watch her suffer over my mistake, i was the one who damaged the relationship and for that i had to see the person most precious to me go through such agony.” 

and sanghyuk can only imagine what that’s like, what it’s like to see the one whom you’re so connected to feel completely broken. to see those loving eyes become distrustful and hurt. he remembers when taekwoon had taken a whole month off from class and it wasn’t until the new semester that he actually even saw taekwoon and nara together again,  _ all because of one accidental kiss with hakyeon _ . it had nearly severed their bond.

so sanghyuk feels silly almost immediately at the fact that he was even slightly jealous of how easy it was for hongbin to grow attached to jaehwan, how hongbin was so willing to accept him into his heart and home. it shouldn’t even be something to get jealous of, they’re all connected by the bond, right? they all share the same pains and burdens and loving one another comes naturally to them. it’s never instant, sanghyuk remembers how reluctant wonsik was when he found his soulmate, how it took time for the affection and bond to settle in. but he knows that if he gives it a chance then it’ll work it’s way out and perhaps if he had actually  _ spent time _ with jaehwan, then maybe he wouldn’t have to hide the fact that he’s so embarrassingly bitter over hongbin’s ‘betrayal’ as he puts it for lack of a better word.

that afternoon when he finishes classes, sanghyuk makes a direct beeline for where hongbin’s apartment is located, his intentions solely on getting to spend time with both his soulmates. 

what he doesn’t expect is to find jaehwan alone, hair wet and towel hanging loosely around his waist.

“hi,” he says, a smile on his lips.

sanghyuk freezes. “h-hello.” 

jaehwan’s eyes are dark when they scan sanghyuk up and down, taking in his figure and invading his personal space even though he’s a whole three feet away. “how’d you get in?”

“i have a... k-key,” says sanghyuk and for some reason he can feel his cheeks heat as jaehwan takes a step closer, beads of water trickling down the sides of his face. 

“how convenient,” jaehwan mumbles then purses his lips. “hongbin’s not home right now, he went shopping.” 

“how do you know i’m not here for-”

“me? of course you’re not, you hate me.” jaehwan says simply and turns to the bedroom, leaving the door open behind him, inviting sanghyuk in.

“i don’t hate yo-” sanghyuk tries to call after as he follows jaehwan, but stops as he sees him pull the towel off from his waist. immediately he covers his eyes in embarrassment, turning his back from the other.

“you know,” jaehwan starts and sanghyuk can hear him rummage through some bags, he can hear fabric being pulled. “i thought it was kind of strange when we first met.”

after a few seconds sanghyuk lets out a strained, “why?” 

he can hear jaehwan slide into a pair of pants, but his body refuses to let him look, to let him turn and face the other. “i thought you were my soulmate at first, until i met hongbin at least.” 

“what are-” suddenly --  _ before sanghyuk can even finish his initial thought _ \-- arms are snaking their way around his waist, pulling him flush against jaehwan’s chest and that immediately sends waves of heat coursing through his bloodstream. 

“are you telling me that you don’t know?” jaehwan whispers, lips softly caressing the shell of sanghyuk’s ear. “can’t you feel it right now?” 

“i-i don’t know what you’re talking about,” sanghyuk tries to keep his voice even, but he knows it isn’t working, not with the way that jaehwan is so  _ close _ . 

as quickly and discreetly as he had snuck up behind sanghyuk, he’s spinning the other to face him, faces inches apart and eyes lined up directly with each other. “it was weird you know, when we first touched and i thought ‘hey, this is the one’, but for some reason when I met hongbin, I didn't feel the same. I didn't feel anything when I met hongbin."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i really wish i had my thoughts more organized when writing this one because i tried to make it where jaehwan and hyuk weren't soulmates or smth but they actually were? idk, it was more of a thing where they actually fall in love as opposed to automatically liking each other due to the bond. hongbin is more of a buffer so i'm sorry my dude, i wish i could have focused on giving a better ot3 fic.


	9. chabin - conspire to ignite

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> finally not a hyuk centric pair! this was going to be a part of a series about merman!au vixx, but to be totally honest i don't recall the other pairs? all i rmbr was that i was in charge of writing chabin and this is what i got. i deadass am so upset at myself for not finishing this one because i enjoyed writing what little of it i did.

The moon hangs high above the ocean tonight, barely able to reflect in the black waves as clouds settle away. Hakyeon had stood here alone once before, admiring the quiet night when it was just him, when things had settled for just a moment and he found his own legs automatically bringing him to the tiny cliffside, shrubbery pulled apart to reveal a strip of clean grass, perfect for sitting and watching the rest of the world. Hakyeon sat crossed leg this time, palms pressed to the ground as he leaned back on them, breathing in the cool summer air that retained the sea in them, a scent Hakyeon could never tire of. He took in another breath, for good measure as Hongbin shifted beside him, whining softly. 

“It’s cold,” Hongbin said, voice compliant with having to end their midnight walk here. Hakyeon had taken note to how sensitive Hongbin was to these things, how every little thing was  _ something _ to Hongbin. 

“We can go back,” Hakyeon replied, raising an eyebrow and taking a brief moment to glance at Hongbin before returning his attention the night sky. Hongbin huffed, he wouldn’t want to go back, Hakyeon knew. The others would be there by now, crowding the place and causing his delicate skin to prickle with annoyance. Hakyeon knew.

Hongbin shook his head slightly, “No.” He pulled the open flaps of his flannel (Hakyeon’s flannel) closer to his body, covering the proud chest he would puff out regularly. Hongbin was dressed for the beach, a plain colored tank top and swim shorts -- though he and Hakyeon both knew he would be reluctant to go for a dip in the ocean -- it was always a surprise to Hakyeon whenever Hongbin would complain about the cold, it was still so warm. 

“Isn’t the ocean freezing?” Hakyeon asked, knowing full well what Hongbin was, knowing he was something ethereal, something only told in myths and stories about men being lured by sweet voices to their watery death,  _ Hakyeon most definitely knew _ . Hongbin wasn’t human, he was barely even passing for one when his tail would dry away and leave only soft patches of pale skin, Hongbin was a-- he was a  _ merman _ . The words had never took chance to escape Hakyeon’s lips, for him to really ask, but he hasn’t found much curiosity in it, he already knew what Hongbin was without the two having some full on discussion about it. 

The other only slowly blinked, looking up at Hakyeon with his lips askew. “My body temperature is different, everything right now is so overwhelming. I can’t adjust.” 

It’s strange, Hakyeon had thought as he watched Hongbin under the moonlight. The other looked more entrancing than usual, drawing something within Hakyeon toward him, almost as if casting a large fishing net out and Hakyeon was getting caught without a chance of escape. He sucked a breath in,  _ Hongbin is beautiful _ . He knew this too, already aware of the intoxicating allure the other produced, the sweet lull of his voice that would cause any normal human to fall maddeningly in love with him. Hakyeon is immune --  _ in a sense _ \-- seeing Hongbin as nothing more than  _ beautiful _ . 

Wordlessly, Hakyeon brought an arm up to wrap around Hongbin, drawing him nearer to himself, letting his body heat sink into the other. Hongbin let out a sigh, full of content and something akin to nervousness, but Hakyeon knew the merman was a proud creature, would never let anything aside from a strong overview show on his face or through his movements. Hongbin was stubborn, Hakyeon even more so. They sat in silence like that for a while, watching both the waves crash against the rocks below their feet and the stars shine in unison as more clouds had seemed to vanish into the black night. Hakyeon couldn’t help but think Hongbin looked even more ethereal in this setting, hair almost lit up like sparklers in the dim lighting, skin glowing palely and eyes reflecting the world before them like a marble shaped mirror. He truly was beautiful, in every sense of the word, it caused the air in Hakyeon’s lungs to cease, making him inhale heavily as he watched the other. It was bizarre, the effect that Hongbin seemed to have on him right now --  _ the lack of effect he seemed to have on other days _ \-- drawing his eyes upon him like a moth to flame. Hongbin truly was dangerous. 

But, Hakyeon does not have that fear in him, because as potent as Hongbin could pose to be, Hakyeon himself was a special type of drug.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hongbin is supposed to be the merman that EVERYONE is absolutely smitten with-- both humans and other fae. however hakyeon is the human that could care less, he knows hongbin is beautiful, but he isn't easily pulled into hongbin's narcissistic/spoiled nature. instead it's more of a reverse since hongbin quickly gets feelings for hakyeon instead and thinks hakyeon is even more beautiful than he is, but he's a little tsundere about admitting it.


	10. hyukeo - final distance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ahhh for the last two years i keep telling myself to finish this one, but i feel like i never will lmao. this is a sort of killers/assassin au with hyuk being the son of a rich ceo or mobster, idr. but both jaehwan and taekwoon are hired to assassinate him, but things go awry and unplanned.

The distance between Jaehwan and Taekwoon is the infinity between zero and one. Sanghyuk is somewhere in the middle.

-

On his left side, he has a gun pointed to his temple, on his right, it’s the exact same. Sanghyuk is stuck between a rock and a hard place, or more accurately-- in between two very skilled hitmen, both with Sanghyuk as their target. 

It was bound to happen, Sanghyuk wasn’t born  _ stupid _ . His mother had warned him about it when he decided to move out on his own, only forty minutes away from home, but he wanted a bit of independence when he turned twenty last summer. Her words were clear when she had bleakly reminded him of his family lineage, that they dealt with back alley business and shady trades. All his family money was not  _ clean money _ . The first few months had been fine, his parents sending bodyguards up until Sanghyuk’s classmate Sungjae was tackled on a visit. That was when Sanghyuk drew the line and fired the men, opting for carrying pepper spray and assuring his parents he would be absolutely fine. 

How absolutely wrong he was though, now caught with not  _ one _ , but  _ two _ highly trained killers and their guns pointing at his head. The one on his left was definitely a familiar face, the male with chestnut brown hair, poofed up ridiculously and shaved at the sides. He had a strikingly large nose and round eyes, glinting with mischief as he ginned lopsidedly at the male on Sanghyuk’s other side. The one to his right wasn’t a familiar face, small and artfully blank, as if he had anticipated this turn of events. His hair was pitch black, eyes slanted upwards and lips cat-like as they remained partially frowned. Both were tall, not as tall as Sanghyuk, but still intimidatingly so, enough that if he were to try and duck out of the situation, one of them could easily grab him with their long arms. 

“This is unexpected,” says the chestnut haired one, still grinning. “To think I would run into the infamous  _ Leo _ . Here, of all places.” 

The other --  _ Leo _ \-- sighs, his hand on his weapon only tightening, causing a fat drop of sweat to roll down the side of Sanghyuk’s face. “It isn’t unexpected. It’s ironic,” he says, voice surprisingly much more soft than Sanghyuk would have thought, but still cold enough to remind him of who the other is. The one to his left only lets out a bark of laughter, eyes momently closing in mirth, but his arm remains steadily in place, ready to shoot Sanghyuk’s brains out. 

“What a perfect reunion then. Sorry, but this kill is going to be mine.” He levels himself, all traces of humor falling off his face as his finger squeezes the trigger and Sanghyuk’s eyes close shut in the split second it takes for him to hear a gunshot. Someone grabs hold of him and when Sanghyuk opens his eyes again, he’s on the floor, the other two are as well, but both guns remain trained on him. 

“You could have shot me!” The male who was  _ about _ to shoot Sanghyuk screeches, eyes wide and full lips out in a childish pout. Sanghyuk begins to question his professionalism at that point.

“That’s where I was trying to aim,” Leo says indignantly, this time his finger is the one pulling the trigger, but before he can act, the other male grabs a nearby potted plant and tosses it at his head. 

Leo dodges it smoothly, rolling to the side and kicking his feet up to resume a standing position, the other following suit, both their weapons aimed at each other instead. “I swear to God, you’re full of dirty tricks, Ken.”

The one who is presumably Ken only smiles, but there’s nothing but a cynical sting to it as he shoots his gun at Leo, missing him by a hair as the other ducks behind a nearby lounge, Sanghyuk all but forgotten. Leo fires back, Ken dodges, Ken fires, Leo dodges, they repeat this until Sanghyuk has made it to the elevator of the building, breathing harshly because he hates running. 

When Sanghyuk thinks he’s somewhat safe is when the elevator abruptly stops in between floors and the top hatch is pried open, Ken’s poofy hair popping into vision as he jumps down to join Sanghyuk, cheeks flushed. “Sorry the lion scared you away, just sit still and let me kill you, okay?”

“What the fuck, no,” Sanghyuk blurts out, bewildered at the other. As if he would allow himself to be killed so easily. The space in the elevator is limited, so Sanghyuk easily kicks him in the shin, causing him to lurch forward. Immediately, Sanghyuk slams his fist on the emergency button, opening the elevator doors to reveal a pair of feet showing halfway from what the elevator will allow. Leo squats down, an angry red line across his sharp cheekbone as a sliver of blood trails down his face. He grabs Sanghyuk’s collar, pulling him out of the elevator and abandoning Jaehwan.

“Fuck,” he groans out when the rushing sound of footsteps can be heard feet away. “This is all Ken’s fault.” 

Sanghyuk has no idea what that means, but he’s practically stunned silent with Leo’s death grip so close to his neck, a swirling mixture of fear and adrenaline rushing through his veins. It’s only moments later, but Sanghyuk knows it’s a swarm of people making their way to the two, Leo pulling him along as he makes way for an emergency exit They’re on the fourth floor, so naturally, jumping is out of the question, but that’s just what Sanghyuk thinks. 

“Aim for the bushes,” he says humorlessly, but it has to be a joke because there aren’t any fucking bushes on the concrete ground. Leo grabs Sanghyuk by his waist, pressing their hips together as he leaps off the emergency exit’s balcony, pulling Sanghyuk down with him to land harshly on a pile of week old garbage. 

“Ow,” Sanghyuk mumbles, feeling like his body has been compressed in jelly, but it’s short lived when Leo is yanking him out and dragging him to his feet. 

“You a fast runner?” He asks, face still very devoid of any emotion and it’s starting to really bug Sanghyuk now.

“No--”

“Great,” he grumbles, “Can you at least drive?”

“No?” Sanghyuk’s brow furrows. Wasn’t this guy trying to kill him? 

“Three years and you still don’t have your license, typical,” comes a voice from behind them and it’s Ken, hands raised up as if he’s given up on all hope. “My car’s around the back, we can escape from there.” 

Leo all but grumbles some more, grabbing Sanghyuk’s arm and tugging him forward, gun still held tightly in his other. Apparently, Ken cannot be trusted, but neither can Leo for all that matters. Sanghyuk is tossed into the back seat of the dark blue convertible, a car too nice looking for the way Ken is dressed. Sanghyuk briefly wonders how much they’re getting paid to kill him. 

“Turn left at the intersection,” says Leo, “We’re going to Ravi’s.” 

Ken seems to ignore him, driving straight past the intersection, eyes focused on the road. Sanghyuk takes in a deep breath. Where is this all leading to? Why isn’t he dead yet?

“We’re not going to Ravi’s,” says Ken after a moment, one where Leo looks like he’s going to blow his fucking brains out if it weren’t for Ken being the current driver. “We’re gonna go talk to Hakyeon first.”

“Hakyeon can’t be trusted right now. He’s most likely the reason for this.”

“Uhm,” Sanghyuk suddenly pipes up and Leo turns to stare at him, gaze ice cold. “W-What exactly is happening? I thought you two were trying to kill me?”

“Change of plans,” Leo says and turns back around, sighing heavily. “Go to Ravi’s.”

Ken seems to mull things over quickly in his head before  making a sharp turn,  the tires screeching loudly and unforgivingly in Sanghyuk’s ears. “You are the luckiest target in the history of the people Leo and I have had to kill,” he mumbles, not really expecting an answer from Sanghyuk and that’s good because Sanghyuk wouldn’t know how to give him one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the parts of this story i didn't get to write out was that keo were an 'item' sort of in the past. they obviously go by leo and ken as their cover names and hakyeon was supposed to be N but for some reason i just wrote his name straight out lol. anyways, they both separately end up liking hyuk and hyuk ofc likes them both and gets them to make up and they become the ultimate ot3


	11. hyukeo - pacific rim au

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> i wrote this when i was obsessed with pacific rim and i so badly wanted an au where keo become a compatible pair but leo is so deadass in love with hyuk, who ofc is in love ken hah ah ahahha haha

There are images flashing in between his mind and Taekwoon’s, who resides on his right. The first remain familiar, memories that Jaehwan has seen countless of times, all reliving them when he was seventeen and had first drifted with Hongbin. That was all five years ago, a passing of time that was used to heal the damage left on Jaehwan’s mentality when Hongbin had died, lingering memories of the two flash by and then Jaehwan is seeing images of things he hasn’t lived through or seen before. These are when Taekwoon’s memories blend in, when his mind starts to cross stitch with Jaehwan’s, creating a bridge between the two that Jaehwan will only have with Taekwoon. They’re drift compatible. 

Hazy gray memories of Taekwoon’s childhood past by, a birthday party with what Jaehwan assumes are his sisters, Taekwoon passing at the top of his class, Taekwoon riding his bike by the Han River, Taekwoon playing soccer in an empty field. Jaehwan sees them all flash by in detail, it’s a good sign, they aren’t lingering anywhere, Taekwoon isn’t chasing the rabbit. It’s his first time, Jaehwan’s been told, actually being in a Jaeger and drifting with someone. They had trained together before, assessing each other in that way which made their bodies move fluidly together in a dance so synchronized there was no way that they wouldn’t be able to drift. 

But it takes Jaehwan by surprised, the last memory that seems to fly by and he almost grabs onto it, just to try and ground himself with the new information that Taekwoon holds in his mind and possibly heart. 

The drift ends and there are happy voices shouting over the com, Jaehwan and Taekwoon have successfully drifted. 

-

“Taekwoon, wait!” 

He’s calling after the other, who had only a terse smile to offer when they exited the Jaeger, immediately getting sucked into the crowd of their peers before slipping away and leaving Jaehwan to take in the congratulatory hugs by himself. It’s understandable, Taekwoon isn’t very fond of skin contact in that way, Jaehwan understands because he’s drifted with Taekwoon, he understands him in a way no one ever will. 

“Would you just wait?” Jaehwan nearly screams when he catches up, grabbing onto Taekwoon’s arm, stopping the both of them in their tracks. 

“What do you want?” Taekwoon spins around, eyes glassy in a way that threatens to spill tears. Angry tears. Hot, frustrated tears at Jaehwan. 

He’s taken aback for a moment, not expecting the other to feel so much about this, not even Hongbin had cried after their first drift. “We need to talk about what I saw.”

“We both saw things we really don’t want to talk about,” Taekwoon says, voice hard. “Isn’t that the point of the drift? So we don’t have to discuss things aloud.”

Jaehwan knows. He knows it’s easier to relay these things together when their minds are one, but this is--  _ Taekwoon _ is something else altogether. He and Hongbin hadn’t talked much about what they saw in each other’s heads, but they did talk about important things, things that needed to be shouldered off and said with their own words to solidify their thoughts. Jaehwan isn’t going to waste any time beating around the bush with Taekwoon.

“You didn’t want to be drift compatible with me.”

Silence. Taekwoon is always silent, but this feels heavier, more real and less hard to ignore because Jaehwan is waiting for an answer now. Taekwoon’s mouth moves after a moment, words beginning to form on his tongue as Jaehwan anticipates the other’s explanation in his own words, but he is interrupted when a voice calls out to the two, the culprit: Sanghyuk.

“Taekwoon hyung! I heard you found a co-pilot!” 


	12. hyuken - after dark, before the dawn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this is a demon au that is riddled with plot holes and spelling errors yikes. i wrote this one on like three different platforms so chunks of it are a little wonky in terms of how it's formatted. i'll have more to say on this au at the end!

Just when Sanghyuk couldn’t think this day could get any worse, he finds himself trapped in between a sour Hongbin and a Jaehwan who just won’t shut up (though for the most part, when does Jaehwan ever seem to shut up?) while a hungry looking spider demon inches her way closer and closer to the trio currently encased around her web. The venom has begun to wear off and Sanghyuk can feel his fingers start to twitch back to life.

“I told you guys messing with bugs was a bad idea!” Jaehwan screams as he tries to wiggle out of the sticky string.

Hongbin snorts softly, “You’re the one who said it was a  _ good _ idea.”

As the two bicker, Sanghyuk lets out a sigh, regretting this assignment more than the time Hakyeon sent him over to Taekwoon’s to help clean out the church’s entire attic. There had been demons there too, but less bloodthirsty and more sealed up until Sanghyuk had accidentally ripped one of the paper seals off and they spent the entire night trying to catch a two inch demon that Taekwoon swore on his life was deadly.

That was a bad day for Sanghyuk (he didn’t even get paid, Hakyeon called it community service) and yet getting tied together with both Hongbin and Jaehwan sure takes the cake away. He can feel the hilt of what he’s praying is Jaehwan’s dagger poking into his ass cheek and with that he squeezes his hand closer and squeezes his fingers towards the dagger.

“Next time, I’m picking the assignment,” says Hongbin, blowing the pink strands of hair out of his eyes.

“Next time, you aren’t coming with us!” Jaehwan argues back, a defiant pout on his lips.

Sanghyuk sighs at the two (he can’t believe they’re older than him) as he finally grasps Jaehwan’s dagger and pulls it out, sawing easily through the spider’s web. It’s a good thing Hakyeon had been so insistent that Jaehwan use a blade blessed with holy water and whatever else it is that Taekwoon does to make these weapons so potent and effective against demons. He’s careful with it though, as extreme as it seems to work on other demons, he doesn’t know how well he’d fare against getting cut by one of these things. There are scars on Wonsik’s back that haven’t healed in all the time that Sanghyuk has known him.

“Will you two shut up already?” He says just as his wrists are nearly cut loose, the forty ton spider only a few feet away and Jaehwan finally screws his mouth into a tight line. Hongbin doesn’t quiet down as quickly from Sanghyuk’s command, but he settles down once the spider is an arm’s length away from sticking him in the torso with her pincers.

Before she can though, Sanghyuk frees himself, arms loose and nails as sharp as diamonds slashing into her hard shell as if it were pudding. Green ooze runs down his claws and a lot of it splashes on both Hongbin and Jaehwan (Sanghyuk grins on the inside) and the spider demon lets out a high pitched screaming sound that would have Jaehwan keening if he weren’t still tightly wound up with Hongbin. Sanghyuk ends it quickly though, bringing his other hand to rip the creature’s head off in a clean pull and her body twitches in the aftereffects of it, but it stops in no time as Sanghyuk manages to tear the rest of the webs off himself.

“Great job, Sanghyuk. I knew you’d figure something out. Now get us outta here,” Hongbin says in a tone that’s anything but grateful and honestly Sanghyuk would prefer to leave him along with Jaehwan who’s still got his eyes shut with spider goo.

“Shoulda just let the spider eat you two,” he huffs instead and Jaehwan whines a little, but Sanghyuk cuts the two loose and scans the area while Jaehwan tries to wipe his face on Hongbin’s coat.

“Do you think there are more?” He asks when he catches Sanghyuk looking off into the black void of the cave.

“It’s an abandoned nest,” Hongbin explains, shoving Jaehwan away from him, “We weren’t even supposed to run into  _ one _ .”

“I don’t sense anything up ahead – living, that is. I think what we came here for is there though.” Sanghyuk looks down at Jaehwan and offers a hand to which the other eagerly takes and stands up, cleaning the rest of his face with his sleeve. Hongbin scrunches his face at the two.

The cave is narrow and only becomes more so as they venture in deeper, Sanghyuk and Hongbin’s eyes starting to glow crimson red as they navigate in the dark. Jaehwan frowns slightly.

“Do you think my eyes will do that when I manage to turn too?”

“Unlikely,” answers Hongbin. “Our eyes are red from our blood. You’re only a half demon. That means half the blood.”

“I could still have the eyes,” he pouts silently and Sanghyuk smiles softly. Thank God that Jaehwan can’t see it in the dark. The half demon squeezes his hand.

“We’re almost there, I can feel the wind blowing from the other side,” he announces.

“This cave leads outside?” Jaehwan asks.

“Maybe, I can smell fresh air and hear running water.”

“Me too,” confirms Hongbin. “The flower should be just up ahead.”

_ A cursed flower in a cursed cave with demon spiders _ . That was what Hakyeon had told them when he offered the job, though he had clarified it was an empty cave now and that the flower had most likely wilted, causing it’s protection on the place to wear off which led to the abandonment of any demons within the vicinity. That was what he had said, but when Jaehwan had accepted it was when Hakyeon pushed Hongbin onto them, smiling cryptically and waving them off.

“Siganily,” Jaehwan mumbles softly behind Sanghyuk. “That’s what Hakyeon said it was, right?”

“Yes,” Sanghyuk replies. “A flower that controls time.”

“It manipulates the air around it and encases it in a forever existent timezone. Nothing ages or dies around it. That’s why demons are drawn to it’s power,” Hongbin explains. “Humans alike.”

“A legend,” Sanghyuk huffs softly. “It could just be another plant.”

“I mean,” Jaehwan licks his lips, “Maybe it is? We only ran into one enemy after all.”

“Maybe,” Hongbin says quietly, but Sanghyuk can see the tense lines in his back.

They venture in silence until the sound of water grows louder and the breeze of wind hits their skin softly, the darkness of the cave becoming illuminated with moonlight. Their feet stop as grass begins to pop in patches around them and Sanghyuk can see a single blossomed flower before them, velvety white petals drooping in plump heart shapes and golden lines drawing patterns of clock hands that look as if they’re slowly turning forward.

“Is that…it?” Jaehwan asks, his grip on Sanghyuk’s hand tightening.

Before Sanghyuk can even react, Hongbin’s stabbing Jaehwan in the chest with his own set of claws, digging ever so deeply towards his heart, Jaehwan’s face is locked in horror and the last thing Sanghyuk can recall is the sound of a song being sung.

—

SIX MONTHS EARLIER

—

Unbelievable. Hakyeon brings home a pet and it’s Sanghyuk who has to look after it. Though, reasonably enough, Jaehwan is only half human, so he’s half a pet, but that still doesn’t make Sanghyuk feel better about having to baby sit the thing.

‘Training’ is what Hakyeon had told the two. Baby sitting fits Sanghyuk’s vocabulary better.

“Technically he’s older than you in human terms,” Hakyeon had said. “I need you to train him to be a hunter with us, think of it as your promotion to a senior hunter!”

But Jaehwan wasn’t even a full demon. Not like Sanghyuk. Or Hongbin. Or Wonsik. Not even an exorcist like Taekwoon and definitely not anywhere close to being a powerful human like Hakyeon. Jaehwan was a dweeb from the countryside who had a human mother and a demon father, a rare entity that decided to seek Hakyeon out and ask for help.

Sanghyuk baby sitting him wasn’t supposed to fit in that story though.

“Oh please,” Wonsik says from the terrace, a cigarette lodged in between his lips, “You’re probably filled with joy at getting an underling.”

“You make it sound like we’re thugs running some sketchy business,” Hongbin huffs beside him.

“We basically are. A hunter who’s tamed three demons and makes them do his dirty work while paying us under the table? Sounds fucking sketchy to me.”

“Aren’t you sleeping with him?” Sanghyuk inquires, though it’s mostly to rouse Wonsik.

It doesn’t work. “Hell yeah I am, and Hongbin’s getting screwed by the priest, but our personal lives are beside the point.”

Hongbin splutters around with a face as red as his eyes when he’s shed his human skin and he hits Wonsik’s shoulder like a school girl in denial. “S-Shut up!”

Sanghyuk lets out a soft laugh as Wonsik smoothly ignores Hongbin and taps his cigarette against the edge of the ashtray. “So, when do we get to meet this half human?”

“He’s moving in with Hakyeon tomorrow,” says Sanghyuk. “Apparently his folks aren’t around anymore.”

“Dead?” Hongbin asks when he’s regained face.

“Probably,” Sanghyuk shrugs.

“Sounds fun,” Wonsik says and the other two only silently squint at him.

—

“H…Hello.”

“Who the  _ hell _ are you?”

Sanghyuk glares hard at the male standing right in front of him, long black hair and old grandpa bifocals on, which Sanghyuk figures is weird considering he can only be in his early twenties. He smells human and doesn’t seem to pose a threat with the hunched over shoulders and fidgety feet, he looks like he’s ready to run. Even less impressive is the stack of boxes beside him and duffle bag that has the sleeve of a red sweater sticking out of it.

“I’m Jaehwan, uhhh–” He nervously licks his lips, “Didn’t Hakyeon tell you I’d be coming?”

“Not here,” Sanghyuk says and glares harder, the sun feeling like hell this early in the morning. It usually doesn’t bother him too much in his human form, but he’s nocturnal and just spent all of last night streaming the first season of Kuroko no Basuke, he is not a morning person.

“What’s all this crap?” Sanghyuk asks and tilts his head at the stack of boxes.

“Wha– Oh, I…”

“Is it yours?”

Jaehwan seems to not want to answer, but he manages a small nod. “Hakyeon said to come here.”

“What. The. HELL.” Sanghyuk screams and closes the door right in Jaehwan’s face, pulling his cell phone from it’s charger and speed dialing Hakyeon with the push of a button.

He goes straight to voicemail and right before the beep, Hakyeon makes sure to say “take care of Jaehwannie, don’t scare him too much!” and to Sanghyuk’s dismay, he breaks his precious Samsung Galaxy 5 in half.

“Can I come in?” Jaehwan asks through the door. “The neighbors are giving me weird looks.”

“My.  _ My _ neighbors are giving you weird looks!” Sanghyuk shouts and swings the front door back open, pulling Jaehwan in and then shutting it closed.

“My stuff!” He calls out, but Sanghyuk ignores him.

“Look, I didn’t get any sleep last night. You can stay for the time being, but when I wake up, you better be gone. Also, tell Hakyeon he sucks ass.” Sanghyuk shoves a very pointy but un-lethal finger in Jaehwan’s chest before flopping on his futon and cocooning himself in blankets.

Ten hours later when he wakes up and cracks an eye open to a brightly lit apartment room, Sanghyuk throws a pillow at the closest moving target aka Jaehwan’s head as he bobs along to some pop song playing through his earphones.

“Are those…Did you move in?”

Sanghyuk glances at the discarded cardboard boxes and the folded pairs of shirts in Jaehwan’s hands as he slides them into one of the unused drawers.

“Hakyeon said I could–”

“Hakyeon doesn’t live here!” Sanghyuk tosses another pillow at Jaehwan who lets out a puppy-esque bark.

“What…What was that.”

“Woof,” he replies.

“Are you making fun of me?”

Jaehwan shakes his head vigorously, “Woof! Woof!”

“Why are you woofing!?” Sanghyuk throws one of the empty boxes at him and Jaehwan howls.

—

“I thought it’d be better if you guys bonded like roommates,” Hakyeon explains later that night when they’ve all gathered at his office, his secretary Nara coming in to pour tea. Only Hakyeon takes a cup before dismissing her.

“I live in a studio apartment,” Sanghyuk says through gritted teeth.

“Even better bonding!”

“And the woofing?”

Hongbin chooses that time to interrupt, “He woofs?”

“Woof!” Says Jaehwan.

“Fun,” Wonsik nods at him and if Jaehwan had a tail, it’d be wagging.

“My idea,” Hakyeon says, “And partially Taekwoon’s. Doesn’t he seem so much cuter this way? Besides, you were the one who kept calling him a pet.”

“Woof!” Jaehwan confirms.

Sanghyuk glares at him. “Stop that.”

Jaehwan nods, “Okay.”

“I almost thought it was gonna be harder than that,” Hongbin squints before elbowing Wonsik. “Sanghyuk’s already got him tamed.”

“ _ Stop that! _ ” He shouts at Hongbin and then ruffles his hair in frustration. “You guys are the absolute worst.”

Hakyeon laughs but turns to ignore Sanghyuk in favor of speaking to Jaehwan. “I told you he was cute, didn’t I?”

“I didn’t think a demon could be cute, but you were right, he is. A little rude, though.” Jaehwan grins and Sanghyuk thinks he liked it better when all he did was bark.

“I’m right here!” He yells back and frowns.

“Honestly though, they all look so…normal to be honest.”

“Wait,” Wonsik raises his hands up as if pausing everything. “You’ve never seen a demon before?”

“Well…no.”

“We aren’t even in our regular form though,” Hongbin clarifies. 

“You aren’t? I mean, Sanghyuk looked pretty scary back there--”

Sanghyuk’s frown deepens. “This conversation is so annoying, you all act like I’m not here or something.” 

They all continue to ignore him, but it’s Hakyeon who continues speaking, “Admittedly, they look hotter in their demon form. Especially Wonsik and Hongbin, they’ve got these ripped abs and--”

“Hey, what about me..” Sanghyuk mumbles, poking his squishy human belly and wishing he hadn’t eaten five whole strawberry croissants last night.

They keep conversing while throwing up invisible walls all around Sanghyuk and eventually the youngest male finally gives up and folds his arms across his chest in a very child-like manner, popping his bottom lip out in a pout and glaring up at Hakyeon while lowering his head. It’ll work, it always works because Sanghyuk acting like a heart broken child always works on Hakyeon. His gross daddy-son complex is what made him even take in a rebellious demon like Sanghyuk in the first place.

Hakyeon clears his throat and glances at Sanghyuk before blinking rapidly and then covering his face with both hands in an embarrassed yet very proud gesture. “Sanghyuk’s really good looking too once you get past the extremely cute factor.”

That’s as close to the proper compliment Sanghyuk wants and he grins a little at it, huffing softly at Hongbin and Wonsik who don’t seem deterred at all (more so grossed out at Hakyeon, but they give Sanghyuk the satisfaction he wants by nodding sympathetically at him).  

“Can I see?” Jaehwan suddenly asks, his face nothing but curious and Sanghyuk isn’t even that much of a fighter anyways.

It isn’t as much of a transformation as it is Sanghyuk’s entire body being engulfed in emerald flames, soft and puffy, they roll around his body and don’t seem to burn him, only shed what bits of traces that make him appear human to the blind eye. His skin seems to pale, losing the soft tint of color that makes him look alive and his features look sharper, almost clearer -- somehow. His eyes are outlined in some sort of black, Jaehwan doesn’t think it’s eyeliner because that would be ridiculous, but Sanghyuk’s eyes are darker, his irises burning scarlet. He also seems physically taller, as if his build has gotten larger, but the biggest difference that Jaehwan seems to really register is the fact that Sanghyuk’s hair is now a deep shade of violet.

“Oh my god, it’s like you got a makeover, your hair is...it’s purple.” 

“A makeover? This is how I truly look, I was born like this,” says Sanghyuk, defensively bringing his hands up to card through his hair, wondering what’s so weird about it. “It’s a lot nicer than that the unflattering shade of  _ brown _ Hakyeon makes me don when I’m in my human skin.”

“Still, demons hunting demons? It’s kind of amazing from my perspective.” Jaehwan looks back and forth between the three demons, all of them aside from Sanghyuk still in their temporary forms.

“It isn’t uncommon, but the sort of work we do is a bit different,” Hakyeon explains. “Not many people are out there who are as gifted as me.”

As Hakyeon grins over his bragging, Hongbin rolls his eyes and nudges Wonsik. “That’s because taming demons is taboo, no hunter or exorcist in their right mind would want a  _ demon _ as their familiar. All aside Hakyeon, he’s power hungry.”

“I feel like it’s just insult after insult with you,” Hakyeon narrows at Hongbin. He takes a moment to clear his throat very loudly before closing his eyes and elaborating. “It’s easier this way, besides I have contracts with them all, they aren’t the least bit dangerous.”

Sanghyuk glances over to Jaehwan, his eyes flickering red and he shakes his head. “Wonsik almost killed Hakyeon when they first met.”

“Irrelevant,” Hakyeon butts in.

“So, what’s your deal?” Wonsik decides to ask since everyone has seem to have forgotten most of Jaehwan.

“Uh,” he pauses to think. “I’m half and half?”

“You don’t look it,” says Hongbin, “I’ve been alive since before the hunter’s association was created, but I have never run into a half demon. I didn’t think they existed, but you – you are in every way mortal.”

It’s true, Jaehwan is. He doesn’t posses the unique eye color that Sanghyuk is currently sporting, the way he moves and speaks is so slow and timid, no demon would ever lack such grace. He is in every way, the exact opposite of Sanghyuk.

“That’s why I’ve come to ask Hakyeon for help,” Jaehwan explains, “Recently, I uhm--” 

Jaehwan’s pause is too long, Sanghyuk can tell he’s having a difficult time getting the words out of his mouth, trying to tell a room full of strangers about whatever situation it is that he’s in.

It’s Hakyeon who does it for him, though. “Jaehwan’s remaining family has passed. It was an attack targeted on him, he came for protection and possibly a way to figure out what he truly is.”

“Yeah, that,” Jaehwan nods, lips pursed.

“I thought I was going to train him to be a hunter,” Sanghyuk says, nose scrunched up indignantly. 

“Well, he’s still going to need to learn how to protect himself should anything happen again,” Hakyeon notes, standing from his seat and tossing something in Sanghyuk’s general direction, the demon catches it easily.

It’s a metal cross, plain and shiny in the fluorescent light and Sanghyuk’s thankful it isn’t a very gaudy one encrusted with gems this time. 

\---

The first month is the easiest, because Sanghyuk isn’t so very fond of Jaehwan yet and there’s still a lot they have to learn about each other before Sanghyuk completely trusts him. Jaehwan is a mess to live with, even messier than Sanghyuk and that causes Hongbin to completely mark Sanghyuk’s place as off limits and hazardous. Wonsik drops by occasionally though, mostly as Hakyeon’s hound to sniff around, to see if Sanghyuk is keeping to his word (to clarify, Sanghyuk never gave anyone his word) and he’s actually more helpful than Hakyeon in Jaehwan’s training. Wonsik is good at fighting, better than Sanghyuk himself and he’s stronger too, able to take more hits as he is to deliver them, he is undoubtedly the more seasoned of the three demons, being Hakyeon’s first and the eldest. Sanghyuk has never pinpointed when exactly Wonsik was incarnated into this Earth, but he knows that Wonsik has seen and experienced things Sanghyuk wouldn’t even dare to dream of. 

They go over basics with Jaehwan, how to wield different blades, the most common demons that will stir trouble, where to strike them that will end things as quickly as possible, all that jazz. Jaehwan’s physical condition isn’t all too well though, so most mornings Sanghyuk can expect to force the half demon out of bed, dumping bone chilling cold water on him and sometimes even having to literally drag him out of the soft sheets. Jaehwan isn’t a heavy sleeper, he’s just very petulant when it comes to early mornings. They’ll work out for hours, it feels almost like nothing to Sanghyuk, but Jaehwan needs to increase his stamina if he’s going to stand his own against something that could cut through his bones like jelly. 

By the second month, Sanghyuk has gotten used to most of Jaehwan’s quirks, though he’s still very adamant on making the other sleep on the futon on the floor. If Jaehwan wants a bed, he’s going to have to earn it. Real results however, do not show up until the middle of the third month, where Jaehwan is able to disarm Hongbin. 

“You--” Hongbin splutters, looking absolutely bewildered. The other two are just as astonished, Jaehwan himself immediately dropping the blade in his hand to gawk at the knife he had struck right from Hongbin’s hand. “Luck.” Hongbin says, exasperated and Sanghyuk can tell the other is flustered by it, by having a human like Jaehwan manage to disarm him so easily. 

“You’re getting faster,” Sanghyuk compliments when the two are alone, Hongbin having had enough of their ridicule. Jaehwan grins a little at his accomplishment, feeling a sort of warmth bloom in his chest by getting Sanghyuk’s recognition. “But, Hongbin was still in his human skin and he had just returned from a job, although arguably enough he is the weakest between Wonsik and I.” 

 

Jaehwan frowns, but shakes it off quickly, glancing over to Sanghyuk. “I don’t understand, why does Hakyeon have you guys disguised as humans?” 

“It masks our scent, hides what we truly are. It doesn’t work completely, but if we ourselves stay hidden then it’s fine.” Sanghyuk looks a bit solemn, staring down at the faded carpet. He hates his human skin, wish he could rip it off and keep it off, but it isn’t his choice to have to don it. Hakyeon has too much control over him, has him binded and practically sealed away in the galling form of a human, there isn’t a thing Sanghyuk can do to protest against it. “If someone that wasn’t associated with Hakyeon were to find us, they’d probably think we were possessing someone or worse yet, they would track us to Hakyeon and that would end badly for us all.”

“Why?” Jaehwan asks without thinking at all, voice completely curious and it’s so innocent, Sanghyuk doesn’t think he has a bad bone in him at all. 

“The recoil would be excruciating on us, our contractor to die while still holding onto our lifelines. Until we have fully served Hakyeon, we can never be free.” 

“That’s,” he pauses, unsure of what to say and Sanghyuk can understand why. It’s ungratifying, humiliating, and almost abusive. “It’s cruel.”

The remark causes Sanghyuk to grin, toothy and without humor. “We weren’t completely against making a deal with him, it was our decision. These things aren’t one-sided, Jaehwan. Hakyeon has something to offer us and that’s what we take in return for doing all his dirty work.”

“He isn’t bad then, I mean, he seems really nice, he’s even helping me.” Jaehwan looks unsure when he says the words, eyes flickering up to Sanghyuk’s face as if looking for some sort of reassurance. 

“Hakyeon is a good person. His intent always has ulterior motives, but he isn’t the worst of the lot,” Sanghyuk agrees honestly, but his tone hardens. “Humans cannot be trusted however, understand this; when you manage to awaken the demon hiding in you, there will no longer be a place for you with them.” 

The words are gloomy, Sanghyuk knows, especially when he sees the realization in Jaehwan’s eyes and he only regrets a partial of what he’s said. This boy needs to understand just what it is exactly he’s getting into being in their company. 

“What are you getting from Hakyeon?” Jaehwan changes the subject immediately, not wanting to validate Sanghyuk’s earlier words with a proper response. He shrugs it off.

Instead of immediately telling him, Sanghyuk stands, hair brushing over his eyes as he gestures Jaehwan to follow him. He leads him to the cream colored dresser in the corner of the room, pulling open the bottom drawer to reveal a wooden box, ancient and sealed with different strips of paper. Sanghyuk’s hand lights up in green flame as his nails elongate and he tears a thin line across the seals that lay across the opening crease of the box. As soon as the last seal is ripped, the box howls, flying open to reveal a shiny plethora of metal crosses, all of different shape and decor. 

“That’s what Hakyeon tossed at you last time,” Jaehwan says, eyeing the contents. “What is it?”

“Repentance,” Sanghyuk answers, voice growing even more solemn. “He pays us repentance so that our souls may find rest after passing on. We can’t do it on our own, we’re damned to Hell after all.”

“But these are just a way to ease things? To, I don’t know, make up for being you?” Jaehwan’s eyebrows seem to furrow and Sanghyuk knows the other is confused. 

“We aren’t damned because we’re  _ demons _ . We’ve sinned, Jaehwan, more so than anyone else in this world and there are things that praying for forgiveness just won’t cut. I don’t expect to go to Heaven or something because of this, I’m just making up for the deeds I have done.” Sanghyuk all but nearly snaps at him, irritated at Jaehwan’s naiviety. “This is what Hakyeon has offered to us and we took it. This is why we don’t mind killing for him, because each cross we receive is a weight off our shoulder.” 

Sanghyuk can tell that this is all making less and less sense for the other, but he knows that in time Jaehwan will understand, he will start to lose his human self and begin to acknowledge the blood that resides deep within his veins. Jaehwan will submit to the evil within him and Sanghyuk is going to watch it all transpire. 

\---

“I want you to take Jaehwan on a job,” says Hakyeon, the face of complete innocence. 

“No way,” mumbles Sanghyuk, glancing out the window of Hakyeon’s office to see Jaehwan outside, running around with Wonsik and Hongbin like school children. School children with knives and fire. 

“It’ll be good for him, I’m sure he’s tired of being held up between your raunchy place and my glorious but slightly boring  _ because I’m not here all the time _ office.”

Sanghyuk lets out a rather loud snort at that. Hakyeon often disappears for weeks at time, doing things he doesn’t divulge in, but Sanghyuk is sure Wonsik knows exactly what it is the other is always up to when he goes missing. “He might get killed.”

“He won’t,” Hakyeon says easily. “You’ll protect him.” The last part isn’t a statement, it’s an order and Sanghyuk can feel the magic in his skin begin to crawl, making the words form into a solid existence. He scratches uselessly at his wrist. 

“What is it then,” he sighs in defeat, knowing that Hakyeon doesn’t often make him go against his will unless he  _ really wants _ to. “What’s the horrible mission you have in store for us.”

“There’s been reports of a demon outbreak, some ancient thing that was sealed long before they began to build on the site. It’s located at Nanshan Temple in China. Ironic that they would build a temple right where a demon was sealed.” There’s a sick grin on Hakyeon’s face, but Sanghyuk ignores it, processing the information instead. Hakyeon wants him to take Jaehwan on a job to exterminate a demon in a dangerously populated area where his life if literally on the line. Wonderful. “Before you leave though, Taekwoon wants to see Jaehwan, make sure to drop by.” 

The church where Taekwoon lives is quite small, it used to double as an orphanage back in it’s hey day, but nearly no one goes to it anymore. The walls are worn, but still good, and Taekwoon has reinforced this place so precisely that Hakyeon’s charm tied loosely around Sanghyuk’s neck is the only way he’d ever be able to take a step anywhere within a hundred yards. It’s old spellwork, everything with Taekwoon is, but Sanghyuk has discovered that just like with demons -- the older, the more potent. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, i actually was on the fence with a lot of things i put into this au and if i had finished and published it then a lot would have been rearranged and changed. i also have an alternative setting where the main pair is hyukbin instead. 
> 
> hakyeon and wonsik are indeed an item. they have a strange kind of love, one where they would defo kill each other without hesitation if they had to. it's a type of love that neither of them will admit to because they're fully aware of what they are. 
> 
> taekwoon sadly didn't get a real part in what i wrote so far, but he's an incredibly powerful priest/exorcist dude. he has a thing going with hongbin, because he finds the demon very fascinating. in their case, it's a sweeter kind of love to the point where yeah they might kill each other if they have to, but there would be much hesitation with it. hongbin is more into taekwoon than taekwoon is with him. i wanted to make taekwoon look very docile and harmless at first, but later on show that he's a skilled fighter and i had this whole scene in mind where he comes in to save the day and surprises hyuk and jaehwan. i also think that endgame for leobin was in fact one of them having to kill the other. i really wanted this pair to be tragic lmao
> 
> the whole thing with jaehwan was going to be that he's not actually half demon, but instead there's a powerful demon being sealed in him. there was a lot i had going on for this fic that probably would have been good as a chaptered fic if i wasn't so goddamn lazy and got easily distracted.


	13. hyuken - wolf au

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hyuken wolf au! ahh i really liked writing this one too, i can't seem to remember why i stopped. hongbin and wonsik are mated in this fic, but hongbin and sanhyuk got separated from the pack and are being chased. taekwoon is a raven who frequently helps sanghyuk out. jaehwan has the role of a hunter!!
> 
> i think what i was going for is that hyuk used to spend a lot of time with humans before he joined hakyeon's pack. he has a hard time adjusting to pack life, especially since the only human he still keeps in touch with is jaehwan who happens to be hunting them. 
> 
> this is also a type of au where they shift between wolf and human forms.

Sanghyuk stirs from his spot on the ground, leaves crunching under him and Hongbin's heavy breathing loud in his ear. He tries to fall back asleep, tries to let the weariness of two days without rest sink in his bones, but he can't, his mind and body easily become restless as soon as it's awoken to Taekwoon's low flutter of wings above his head. Wordlessly, they exchange looks, Sanghyuk sniffing the air for anything different and when Taekwoon's wings expand from the tree he's perched on, Sanghyuk's nerves go into overdrive. 

Hongbin's slower to wake, but one nudge from Sanghyuk and he's already alert, lifting his nose up into the air.  _ They've been found _ .

The two quickly scramble up off the floor, paws slippery on the leaves and grass, Taekwoon flying high above them, ready to caw if a threat reaches them. They run, fast and legs tired, but quickly nonetheless. Sanghyuk figures whoever has been chasing them for the last two days hasn't noticed their presence,  only blindly following their scent. Hongbin's at his heels, he's always been a better runner but the fact that he's lagging behind Sanghyuk --  _ the omega _ \-- worries him too much, something must be wrong.

A familiar smell breaks into his sensitive nose and the scent would warm him if he wasn't running for his life. Suddenly he gets a plan in his head, it's stupid but worth a shot and Sanghyuk knows that Hongbin needs the rest. He starts to run towards the warm scent, both Hongbin and Taekwoon become confused at his sudden change in direction, but follow him anyways. Hakyeon may not trust him, but at least these two do.

The alley they find shelter in is narrow and barely fits both Sanghyuk and Hongbin, but they manage and after staggering minutes, Taekwoon lets out a soft caw and the two heave in deep breaths.

"Nice plan," comments Hongbin, a tired smile on his dirt covered face. Sanghyuk's chest swells when he sees how long his hair has gotten, how damaged and torn he looks right now. Wonsik would kill him if he saw Hongbin like this.

He nods, feeling the ache run throughout his entire body --  _ his human body _ \-- and has enough time to notice that he and Hongbin are both stark naked. Taekwoon lets out another caw and flies off north.

They run around trying to cover their shame before Sanghyuk spots Taekwoon on an abandoned clothes line, long forgotten articles of clothing still hung. They take their pick, Hongbin in a pair of loose shorts and Sanghyuk in sweats, both wearing long sleeved sweaters. 

"We should find somewhere to rest," Sanghyuk says, looking around the area, they're surrounded by old buildings and Taekwoon circles around them.

"Are you insane?" Hongbin says, "We need to regroup with the pack as soon as we can. We barely got away, who's to say we aren't still being tracked?" 

"Taekwoon will alert us, but you're barely functioning.  Being away from Wonsik is taking it's toll on you." 

Hongbin snarls, looks down at the floor, exposed. "Don't talk to me like that." 

"I'm gonna go check out those buildings, they might be abandoned. We're resting." It's ballsy of Sanghyuk to order a sentinel like that, but they're away from the pack right now and Hongbin is in no condition to be in charge either. 

The elder only huffs under his breath but he allows Sanghyuk to do as he pleases, scanning the area around them in full alert. Moments later, Sanghyuk returns and they take shelter in one of the buildings. 

"This use to be an apartment complex, next door's a coffee shop, barely running. I'll go get us something to eat in a bit," says Sanghyuk.

Hongbin raises an eyebrow, "From a coffee shop? Do you even have money?"

Sanghyuk scoffs, "I meant hunt, I'll go hunt for something."

He hadn't meant to bring up the coffee shop, it was just the smell that had brought him here in the first place, sometimes Sanghyuk finds himself missing the smell of human things like coffee or laundry or just humans in general. Being in the pack is different, they're not human, they're wolves and even when they do shift (which is rarely) they don't smell one-hundred percent human. 

It takes hours before Sanghyuk can ease up around their new surroundings, Hongbin already fast asleep after finishing off the rabbits Sanghyuk caught in the outskirts of town. It's been months since Sanghyuk's even been in a town, the smells and sights familiar and yet so foreign to him. Taekwoon stays a safe distance away from them, always on guard.

So Sanghyuk nearly has a panic attack when he hears soft footsteps approaching him from behind. He doesn't even register the smell until the figure enters his peripheral view, Hongbin knocked out cold but still stirring by his side. Instinctively Sanghyuk leaps forward, ready to defend Hongbin. His canines extend when he lets out a low growl, eyes becoming sharp and targeted on the figure growing more and more vivid. 

"Woah, calm down." A voice says, the hairs on Sanghyuk's neck stand up, a chill shoots down his spine. He knows that voice.


	14. hyuken - perspective is a lovely hand to hold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> more wolf au! not gonna lie i totally forgot about this one until just now as i found it. as with the demon au, this one would have been rearranged a lot too had i finished it.

The ground was still soft underneath his footsteps, remnants of mud clinging to his old work boots. Jaehwan could see the soft silhouette of an animal moving alongside the bushes. The large creature was staggering, leaves and branches rustling around it in its effort to try and escape. He had seen the whole thing go down, the hunters shouting at one another that something had set one of their hundreds of traps off. All of them rushed into the woods, weapons gripped tightly in their hands and the sound of premature gunshots being fired. Jaehwan heard the creature yelp, injured obviously from one of the random shots shot in the darkness, but the fog obscured too much. He was separated from the hunters now, walking along an unknown path, watching the poor thing try to distance itself as much as possible from the humans. 

The fog wasn’t as dense in this part of the woods, clearing up just enough for moonlight to illuminate dark red-brown fur, burning against the dark backdrop. He could see large yellow eyes, round and animalistic, yet somehow lacking any aggression. The creature had sharp teeth and claws, scratching at the wet earth underneath it. It was exhausted from running away, blood gushing out of its side and hind leg, Jaehwan could see the dark liquid glinting in the moonlight. He felt sorry for it, if only briefly. 

It was a wolf. Hated creatures among his village. They killed livestock and trampled over crops during the night. It was a typical story of humans invading the land, driving away the residents of the woods and mountains, making the former homes of hundreds of animal’s their own. Most of the wolves had long gone by now, very few appearing during Jaehwan’s childhood. This was the first one to appear in twenty years, and what a large one it was. 

It was breathing heavily now, the sound of its labored breathes reaching Jaehwan’s ears and he swallowed thickly in anticipation. Would it die? Right here, right now, just like that? Was it really this easy? 

The clouds above began to move slowly, soft shadows casting over the clearing as the moon became obscured. He could feel a subtle shift in the air around him and then, it happened. 

Slowly, almost like something in one of the old stories his grandfather used to tell him, the creature before him began to change. The red fur seemed to flatten, smoothing out into mud stained skin as the wolf’s body began to shrink. Smaller and smaller it became until the once large wolf seemed to be no more than a lump on the ground. He couldn’t believe his eyes, staring widely at long arms and legs, soaked in blood and a bare torso heaving up and down. 

It was a boy. The gold yellow of its eyes now dark and no longer shining as Jaehwan had let burn into his memory. A boy. 

He panicked, not knowing what to do now, as if he had a plan of action before. This wasn’t the wolf anymore, but if his eyes weren’t deceiving him then it was also very much the wolf too. He remembered one of the stories his grandfather told him, something his mother had gotten angry about and yelled at the old kook to stop implanting such tall tales into Jaehwan’s head. It was about a little girl he had met as a child. He called her a Wild One, saying she lived in the mountains and would always be covered in fresh dirt. She smelled of the earth and at night on full moons would transform into a wolf. His mother had gotten very upset then, calling it all one big misunderstanding, saying his grandfather had instead seen the girl disappear because a wolf had eaten her and took her place. Jaehwan hadn’t known what to believe in back then. 

And even now. He swallowed again, watching as the heaving chest of the boy began to slow, the cold night air biting against his cheeks and he took a step forward. It didn’t move, eyes closed and body still, almost dead aside from its breathing. Whatever it truly was, Jaehwan knew in that moment he wasn’t going to be able to just leave it there anymore. Something inside him had been lit. 

Most of the hunters had returned to camp by now, a few still out in the woods looking for any trail the creature could have left. Jaehwan had covered the boy in his thick coat, using bits of fabric torn from his shirt to wrap around the open wounds, blood soaking into the white cloth almost instantly. He was careful lifting the boy up onto his back, almost slipping and falling in the process, a trait he was known for. It took him time to trek all the way back to the small campsite just outside the woods, a few lanterns still lit here and there. He wasn’t quite afraid of getting caught with the injured boy, lying immediately when one of the hunters had run up to him.

“I found him in the woods,” he said. “His clothes had been torn off and he was bleeding to death.”

“That damn wolf,” the hunter, Siwon had cursed, helping Jaehwan into the nearest tent. “This boy must have been traveling in the woods from the village over.” 

It was much easier to lie when the hunters themselves seemed to make up any excuse to slander the wolves. Jaehwan and Siwon gently laid the boy down on the comforter. It was then that he got a better look of his face, torn up and young, he couldn’t have been much younger than Jaehwan. 

“Poor fella,” Siwon said, pulling a first aid kit out and getting proper bandages. “We’ll have to bring him to Minyoung first thing tomorrow morning. That’s if he makes it through tonight.” 

Jaehwan had only seen Minyoung around the village once or twice. She was a doctor who had suddenly moved into town a few years ago when a disease had spread throughout. It was because of her that many of the villagers were still able to breathing, Siwon included. “I can take him right now,” Jaehwan said, concerned that the boy may possibly not make it through the night, not with the way his skin began to pale at a quickening pace. 

“It’s too dangerous with that wolf still around,” Siwon said, immediately stopping any of Jaehwan’s protests. “I’ll wrap him up good, don’t worry.” 

He couldn’t say that the wolf was gone, that the boy in front of them  _ was _ the wolf. They were all too precautious all the time about wolves and Jaehwan couldn’t simply shrug it off and venture all the way back to the village on his own with everyone thinking a wolf was still on the loose. He conceded, wrapping the comforter around the boy and watching as Siwon dimmed the lantern. 

“Stay in here tonight, I’ll take your tent,” he said, though that had already been Jaehwan’s intention anyways. He didn’t want to risk anything happening with the boy. 

The night seemed to drag on forever, the sound of hunters one by one returning with nothing. Of course they would, Jaehwan thought, sleep prickling at the corners of his eyes and his head nodding uncomfortably as he sat with his back against the entrance of the tent. He didn’t want to keep his eyes off of the boy. Morning came in a flash, the first beam of light slipping through the opening of the tent and waking Jaehwan. He had fallen asleep, if even for just a few minutes, but found himself laying down on the comforter, the boy sitting in his upright position now. 

“You--” he started, confused at seeing the soft tan skin almost reflecting off the sunshine. All his color had come back. The boy sat naked still, wrapped in bandages and with Jaehwan’s coat hanging loosely off his shoulders, he glanced down at him. He blinked up at him, “Are you alright?” 

He spoke slowly, voice hoarse and barely audible. “I’m fine,” a pause, “Thanks.” 

Jaehwan’s mouth fell open. “You can speak.” 


	15. hyuken - they never know

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a step brothers au where jaehwan is married and cheats. this was defo going to be dark and angsty.

Lee Jaehwan stares him right in the face and Sanghyuk can feel his cheeks heat from the intense gaze. His mother is by his side, anxious and slightly embarrassed, but beaming all the same. He knows how much this means to her, this is their first meeting after all, the start of a brand new page in all of their lives. Sanghyuk can only hope she’ll truly be happy with this all, which is the only reason he’s even playing along. 

“I hope we’ll all get along from now on,” says the man sitting opposite of Sanghyuk’s mother-- Jaehwan’s father says. He’s older than Sanghyuk’s mother, by how much-- he doesn’t know, but he’s neat and organized and Sanghyuk feels like his mother could maybe be happy with him. 

“Same here,” Sanghyuk says, a smile pulling apart his face and his mother grabs his wrist in a comforting gesture, her eyes shinning so brightly. He can’t remember the last time she had that look in her eyes. “I’m looking forward to the future.” 

“Us as well,” says Jaehwan and Sanghyuk’s eyes dart to meet his, eyes still piercing. “I’ve always wanted a little brother.” 

Jaehwan’s father lets out a boisterous laugh, “Sanghyuk-ssi is already in university, plus he’s taller than you, Jaehwan.” 

“Ah--” Sanghyuk splutters, “You don’t have to address me formally, just Sanghyuk is fine.” 

“Am I included too?” Jaehwan asks, before calling out sweetly, “Sanghyuk-ah.” 

“J-Just Sanghyuk is fine,” he clarifies, a flustered wave briefly passing him. 

“Then call comfortably call me hyung,” Jaehwan says with a smile and Sanghyuk’s mother seems more than pleased. 

“Looks like you’re getting along,” she comments, a warm look on her face and Sanghyuk figures that maybe this really will all work out for the better. Maybe they can be a family after all. 

Maybe.

-

“Let me fix your tie,” Jaehwan says, gesturing for Sanghyuk to get closer. He pulls Sanghyuk down a bit when the other stands before him, fingers quickly moving to straighten out Sanghyuk’s tie. 

“Thanks, hyung,” he says, a nervous sigh puffing its way out. 

“Relax, it isn’t like you’re the one getting married,” Jaehwan laughs, patting Sanghyuk on the back. 

“I’m just-- I’m still trying to get used to how fast this is all happening.” 

“It’s been three months since they announced their engagement to us, it isn’t at all fast.” 

Sanghyuk furrows his brow, still feeling that three months  _ is _ a short amount of time before a soft knock comes from the door of the dressing room and Jaehwan calls for them to come in. 

“Look at you all handsome,” says a woman as she slips into the room, lips red from rouge and hair dyed a bright yellow. Sanghyuk can’t help but notice how incredibly beautiful she is. She gracefully glides into Jaehwan’s open arms, before noticing Sanghyuk in the room. “Oh, I’m sorry-- I didn’t know someone else was in here.” 

“That’s Sanghyuk,” Jaehwan says, letting the embarrassed woman go. “My new brother.” 

“I’m Han Sanghyuk,” he introduces himself, a slight blush on his cheeks as he bows. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Ah, you’re so polite,” says the woman, nodding her head at him and smiling softly. “I’m Jinah.” 

Sanghyuk tilts his head, returning the nod before Jaehwan interjects, “Im Jinah-- My wife.” 

And oh, that’s right. His mother had mentioned Jaehwan being married for about a year. It was a bit surprising since Jaehwan seemed so young, but his mother had also divulged that Jaehwan would be turning twenty-eight this year too. Both he and his father looked younger than they appeared, but they carried their age in their actions and how they kept themselves. Sanghyuk was a bit envious of such maturity, his friends still teased him and called him a baby all the time; he couldn’t even get his tie right. 

“You look so young,” Jinah comments, her small hand coming up to her cheek. “How old are you?”

“I turn twenty in the summer,” he answers, bashfully. “I’m often told I still look sixteen though.”

“You’re too big to be sixteen,” says Jaehwan, his hand stretching out to ruffle into Sanghyuk’s hair. He can’t help but compare the difference between his hand and Jinah’s-- how it must feel when they hold hands. 

“Stop that,” he says, swatting Jaehwan’s hand away and flattening down his hair. “I’m gonna go see my mom for a minute.” 

“I should go greet her later,” Jinah says, nodding again at Sanghyuk. “It was nice meeting you.” 

Sanghyuk smiles sheepishly at her one more time, his feet automatically guiding him out as he hears her comment one last time to Jaehwan how nice it must be to have a younger brother. The door closes behind him silently and he swallows thickly, feeling anxious about how he’ll fit in with his new family. 

His mother greets him warmly at the door, dressed in a pretty hanbok, her hair pinned up in plaits. She’s bashful, says she’s too old for a big party like this, but her soon-to-be-husband was insistent they have ceremony with all their friends and family. She seems so happy, Sanghyuk can only cheer her on before it’s time for the wedding to begin. Everything goes smoothly, almost like a fairytale and Sanghyuk watches as his mother cries happily beside her new husband, the two looking like a couple that belong together more than anyone. His chest tightens. 

He doesn’t remember how it got there, but it’s his fourth; the bubbles in the champagne tickling his throat as he sips the drink in his hand. Everyone had made their way around to him at least once, congratulating him on his mother’s wedding and his new family. They were all warm gestures, but Sanghyuk can’t help but somehow feel the hollowness of their words. Rehearsed, required, returned with a just as hollow ‘thank you’ on his part. An emptiness he didn’t know existed swells in the pits of his stomach. 

“Yo,” comes a voice from behind Sanghyuk. A warm hand nestling it’s way into the layers of his hair. 

“Hyung,” Sanghyuk calls softly, already getting used to Jaehwan’s familiarity. “Can you stop that already.” 

“It’s so fluffy though,” he grins at him, taking the empty seat beside Sanghyuk. “Aren’t you a little too young for that?” Jaehawn points at the half empty glass of champagne still in Sanghyuk’s hand. 

“I’ll be twenty soon. Besides this isn’t my first,” he answers, taking another sip for emphasis. 

“Oh, Sanghyuk,” Jaehwan chides, patting the younger on the back.


	16. luck - fall for you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> i literally do not remember where i was going in this fic, i hardly recall even writing it ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ but going out on a limb, i'm guessing from what i had it titled as in my docs is that this is an au where luck fall out of love only to fall back into love. 
> 
> the title is a line from the song fall for you by secondhand serenade. the whole line is "because tonight will be the night that i will fall for you, over again"

it happens because taekwoon didn’t expect it to happen. it happens because he left the coffee pot on the burner for too long, forgot to get the mail that morning, because he didn’t call sanghyuk first when he found out he’d be going to study overseas for two years. it happens because jaehwan tells him that sanghyuk just wasn’t the one. 

“i’m sorry,” sanghyuk says, but his voice doesn’t really sound like he is. “goodbye hyung.”

it happens on a friday morning and by saturday, taekwoon is already out of the country. 

\--

taekwoon finds that not much can happen in two years, that you can make new friends and have new discoveries but nothing really changes, people don’t really change. seasons come and go in the same formation, studying is endless and exams are brutal, his hair grows longer but that’s what salons are for. taekwoon lives everyday in a black and white haze and he doesn’t mind, he doesn’t feel any different. two years go by faster than he thought.

but when he sees a too tall sanghyuk on a tuesday evening with a nose that he’s finally grown into and hair burnt orange, he decides that a lot can change in two years.

taekwoon finds that there is only one han sanghyuk. 

\--

“are you gonna go over there and talk to him?” asks hakyeon, the red cup in his hands shaking from the way he’s swaying in what taekwoon guesses is a dance. 

the silent purse of lips is enough to answer hakyeon’s question that  _ no _ , taekwoon will not be going over to initiate conversation with sanghyuk, not when he’s sober and filled to the brim with bittersweet emotions that swim endlessly in his chest. he takes a small sip from his own red cup, the plastic feeling fragile and easily breakable in his large hands. taekwoon hasn’t been to a party in _ ages _ , but it’s hakyeon that decided he needed to go out and reconnect with their old classmates, that the alcohol buzzing in his system will loosen him up for talking and interacting with the college idiots he all left behind for different learning opportunities. 

he’s already reunited with hakyeon and wonsik, the two easily re-gluing  themselves to his sides, entering his life as if they never truly did leave it (and they didn’t, taekwoon remembers the christmas card he got from them last year) and wonsik’s familiar baritone voice springs a chord in taekwoon’s memory. 

“he’s dating su-” wonsik starts but lets out a yelp when hakyeon kicks his shin.

“this is a sensitive topic kim wonsik, don’t start talking about it.” 

“you started it hyung,” wonsik grumbles and then glances over at taekwoon, “he’s dating sungjae now.” 

“no he isn’t,” hakyeon says immediately, shoving wonsik’s shoulder. “i talked to hongbin, those two are just friends.” 

“friends don’t grind on each other,” says wonsik, pointing to the two taller males in the middle of the dimly lit room, obviously grinding. 

“shut up,” hakyeon retorts. “they’re friends.”

taekwoon doesn’t say anything, he just takes one look at the two, at sanghyuk and then goes back to staring at the wall, the grip on his cup somehow feeling tighter. it isn’t anger he’s feeling, he knows this, he’s never been one to hold in his anger or even hide it. but he knows that this is something close to it, he contemplates jealousy before ruling that out, taekwoon is aware that any feelings he’s had for sanghyuk have already departed when he did too. so the swelling in his chest and the hot blood running rapidly through his veins is unexplainable by now, but taekwoon drowns his concerns away with the cheap alcohol and hakyeon swivels wonsik away to go dancing. 

in the morning he wakes up to hakyeon banging loudly on the wall and wonsik drooling on his exposed stomach, the warm saliva making him cringe when he realizes what it is.

“morning hyung,” wonsik greets, sitting up and rubbing at his eyes. “what the hell is hakyeon hyung doing?”

“i don’t know,” taekwoon grumbles, his body feeling taut. 

“well tell him to fucking stop.”

taekwoon blinks up to see hakyeon without a shirt, banging loudly on the wall with a hammer in his hand. it takes him a few more blinks to realize that hakyeon is actually hammering something into the wall and then a few more seconds before he realizes that it’s a badly made sign, the dark purple and neon green colors clashing with each other. 

“what in god’s name is that?” wonsik asks, ruffling his bird’s nest hair. 

“it’s a welcome home sign for taekwoon, made it myself,” says hakyeon proudly.

“and you had to do that right now?” wonsik says and then glances over at the digital clock beside the bed, “at six fucking am?”

“language, kim wonsik,” hakyeon chides, hitting the nail a few more times. “there, all done.”

taekwoon finally takes a moment to read the sign, a badly written one in hakyeon’s own english handwriting that says ‘welcome home taekwoonie!’ and he sighs before dabbing at his belly with the comforter and pulling his shirt all the way down. “i need coffee,” he mumbles before shoving wonsik off his lap and sauntering over to the kitchen. 

but when he takes a step into the living room of wonsik and hakyeon’s apartment, he sees a boy laying on the floor


	17. luck - if my heart says i'm sorry, can we leave it at that?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this one is longer than most of what i have in the compilation. it's roughly 8k and i left it on the back burner long enough to know i'm never touching it again. had i finished it i would have cut out chunks and changed A LOT because re-reading it, i cringe at how cheesy this fic is, but the basis of what i wanted for this fic is to display a slightly realistic romance between a gay taekwoon and a straight sanghyuk that entails homophobia and ofc tons of coming out of the closet scenes. this fic needs a lot of editing, but i'm posting it at it's rawest form for y'all because i don't think i can re-read it again without wanting to choke lmao

The sun is warm and gentle as Taekwoon ruffles the short-haired dog’s fur -- _Ravi_ _is his name_ \-- and he is a small pug, eyes askew as he lets out a soft bark, crawling helplessly into Taekwoon’s lap. He likes this cafe, it’s smaller than most dog cafes, but still homey enough that Taekwoon doesn’t feel like it’s crowded. He hates crowds, most people in general, but this cafe is filled with dogs, small and large, young and old, Taekwoon loves this place. He doesn’t particularly think about the reason he really comes here, he just calls it a perk instead whenever he goes to the corner counter and orders his americano from the toffee haired boy with the bright smile on his perfectly sculpted face. Taekwoon thinks that jawline could cut diamonds in half, he also thinks the boy’s eyes _are_ like diamonds.

“Ravi really likes you,” he says off-handedly.  _ Sanghyuk _ , Taekwoon thinks briefly, that’s what his name tag says but Taekwoon has never had the courage to actually say it aloud. 

He nods curtly, taking his drink and returning to the little booth he usually occupies by the back, near the obstacle room where the dogs can go in and run through small courses. Taekwoon has never gone back there, knowing that whenever Sanghyuk isn’t making drinks, he’s assisting those who want to let the dogs jump some hoops. As far as Taekwoon is concerned, Sanghyuk is the only who does that particular job; two other female employees tend to the dogs and customers in the main part of the cafe. Sanghyuk seems to work everyday, Taekwoon knows this because everyday for his lunch break he walks down the couple of blocks it takes to come here and play with the dogs (and occasionally gawk at Sanghyuk when he’s sure the other isn’t paying him any attention, which sadly is quite often). On his days off, he’ll force himself to eat at home, instead of going out, it’s a bad habit, but Jaehwan says it’s an improvement from when they were in college and Taekwoon would literally stay holed up in his dorm room aside from going to class, all other forms of leaving ruled out as only a necessity. Even when he had dated Hakyeon, things were still very confined, being forced out on dates isn’t the same as Taekwoon actually  _ wanting _ to go out. Hakyeon isn’t the same as Sanghyuk. That says a lot, seeing as Taekwoon doesn’t even know Sanghyuk. 

Back at work, the music store --  _ Venus _ \-- Taekwoon finds solace in simple things, like dusting instruments and going through stock, never really having to deal with sales as Ara and Yoonjo go through the aisles like the professional chatterboxes they are. He’s in the back when Jaehwan zooms in, spilling a few boxes of CD’s that Taekwoon had  _ just _ arranged this morning, yelling out a string of incoherent words while simultaneously trying to catch his own breath. 

“What?” Taekwoon asks dully, more out of politeness than actual curiosity. Jaehwan squints at him for that.

“Come to the front,” says Jaehwan, pointing a finger to the door connecting the two rooms. “Yoonjo’s going to sing.” 

That’s Taekwoon’s cue, the job that Juhee had specifically wanted him for when Jaehwan introduced him to her for the position --  _ he’s the performing mannequin of Venus _ . He’s shy about it, but months of performing with the store’s instruments have made it all somewhat bearable, made Taekwoon actually enjoy the eyes on him and the applause he receives whenever anyone stays long enough to hear him finish playing, and they mostly do when Yoonjo is singing beside him. She’s a much newer employee, newer than Taekwoon at least. She had gotten the job because she knew Ara and Ara knew Juhee --  _ the owner _ . Taekwoon isn’t too sure on what the relationship is between them all, but he has a rule about not meddling with his co-workers, or most people for that matter. However, he suspects that Yoonjo had received her position more like the way Taekwoon had gotten his, she’s a bit of a performing mannequin too, except she doesn’t know how to play the piano or pluck a guitar. She’s a singer, a really good one at that, Taekwoon recalls the besotted feeling that sprouted in his chest when he first heard her sing, it was intoxicating, he almost had the thought that perhaps he could be 100% homosexual with the exception of Shin Yoonjo. But, there lacks attraction and most importantly he’s only really in love with her singing. 

When he reaches the front of the store, he’s met with a couple, surprisingly enough, he knows the male -- it’s Hakyeon’s old roommate,  _ Minhyuk _ . 

“Taekwoon-ah,” he says, just as astonished before allowing a curled smile to appear on those thin lips of his. “I didn’t know you worked here.” 

“Yes,” nods Taekwoon, eyes flickering briefly to the woman beside him. “Almost a year now.” 

“Is that so? I only heard Jaehwan was working here-- oh, this is my fiancee, Hyelim.” Minhyuk wraps his arm around the woman before gently squeezing, she’s shorter than him, hair long and black and she has a similar smile to his. They look cute, Taekwoon thinks.

“Nice to meet you,” she says, offering her hand forward and Taekwoon takes it, shaking it momentarily before withdrawing. “I know Ara and Yoonjo, we came here to check the place out, but was told that you and Yoonjo do a performance?”

He gets pushed out the conversation easily when Jaehwan interrupts and starts throwing compliments animatedly with his arms flying about and there’s a slight blush rising on Taekwoon’s cheeks from the praise (because he seldom hears it but when he does it never ceases to make him feel appreciated) and it’s Yoonjo who finally sighs loud enough for them all to hear to make Jaehwan stop because she has customers to assist and if anyone wants to hear her and Taekwoon perform then it’s going to be Jaehwan who needs to shut up. It’s a simple piece, Taekwoon sitting at the bright red grand piano they have at the front of the store, right by the display window, doors open to let the sound flow out into the hall of the department store they’re located at. Almost immediately, people being to slow down, a few even stop, listening to the melody that Taekwoon plays, fingers flying gracefully across the black and white keys, Yoonjo’s heavenly voice rising in falsetto along with him. This is how it works, this is the master plan that Juhee has created with the two --  _ her hook _ . More customers flood in, a small circle is formed by the two and Taekwoon wills down the urge to look up, he’d only get even more self conscious. 

When they finish, Jaehwan hollers loudly and both Minhyuk and Hyelim clap, amazement written all over their faces. A few people leave, others stay to look around, Ara helpfully guiding them as Yoonjo departs from Taekwoon’s side to join her. It’s after she’s left that he makes the mistake of looking into the thinning crowd, eyes catching onto someone all too familiar. Almost instantly, Taekwoon is rising to his feet, the face of awkward as he bows politely at Minhyuk and Hyelim, rushing away to his safe spot in the back room. Juhee is in there, sorting through something or another, and she greets Taekwoon warmly when he enters, his eyes refusing to look back up. She doesn’t say anything to him, just resumes her work and that’s what Taekwoon likes about her the most, she doesn’t hover or put him in any unpleasant positions, she’s patient and doesn’t like to meddle. Juhee is literally a breath of fresh air in the stuffy old storage room. 

Later the next day when Jaehwan notices that Taekwoon remains idle in the back room during his usual break time, he intervenes in the silent staring contest he has with the wall. Taekwoon brushes him off, as he would usually, because it’s Jaehwan and because Jaehwan would only tease him and make things worse if not even the slightest bit better. 

It’s Sanghyuk. Taekwoon had seen Sanghyuk. Sanghyuk had seen Taekwoon.  _ He has seen Taekwoon playing _ . Embarrassment floods him at just the memory and he shoves Jaehwan away from his personal space, going off to stand in a different corner of the back room, wishing he could be drinking an americano and petting Ravi instead of settling for the stale pot of coffee they have which could or could not be five months old. Taekwoon groans loudly, which is so uncharacteristic of him that at some point during the day Ara actually looks concerned for him, which is uncharacteristic of her and that just causes even more groaning to ensue. 

By the end of the week, Taekwoon seems to cave, actually  _ needing _ to go and interact with the dogs at the dog cafe (all the while telling himself that there is absolutely no insistence to go and see Sanghyuk. At all.) and he winds up there once more, paying the  ₩ 12,000 entrance fee and taking his usual seat, making sure to pet and coo at any and all dogs that he passes by. Ravi isn’t anywhere to be seen, so Taekwoon settles for Ken -- a cream colored corgi -- that practically pounces into his lap once he picks him up. His fur has gotten much longer than Taekwoon can recall and he briefly wonder who grooms the dogs around here. Taekwoon can’t bring himself to look up, to let his eyes scan the room for Sanghyuk, a part of him hopes that the other isn’t working today (unlikely) or that he’s just in the obstacle room (more likely), but it’s the sound of a paper cup being set down at his table that confirms Sanghyuk’s whereabouts --  _ right in front of Taekwoon _ . 

The other is smiling brilliantly at him, eyes crinkled up playfully when he turns to leave without a single sound. Taekwoon swallows thickly and Ken scurries out of his lap, chasing after a Sanghyuk whose strides are far too long for Ken’s tinnier ones to keep up with. There’s a white slip of paper atop the lid of the coffee cup, Taekwoon’s hands hesitate to pull it open, afraid of all the words that could be written there, the amount of power they could hold against him. It isn’t anything to worry about though, he discovers when he reads it, messily scrawled hangul writing out a simple:  _ it’s on the house! _ and he lets out a breath of air he hadn’t realized he was holding in. The coffee turns out to be an americano, the way Taekwoon usually orders it and he colors at the fact that Sanghyuk is painfully aware of him and his habits, especially the one about how bad he is with handling conversations of any sort. He finishes his drink rather quickly, only stalling whenever a friendly canine stopped by him and he indulged in petting them or offering them a treat, always spending more than he’d like whenever coming here. Except, the coffee was free this time, so Taekwoon doesn’t spend as much, but still, he buys Ken an extra treat more just to make up the difference. Taekwoon leaves with the slip of paper in his pocket. 

It isn’t until he’s at home, washed up and ready for bed when the paper resurfaces, falling out of his jeans as he tosses them into the hamper. He almost forgot. How could he? Taekwoon silently curses himself before carefully unfolding the paper and laying it out neatly on his desk, going over the words in his head until he’s delirious with sleep, knocking out with his face pressed to wood. In the morning for work, he’s in much better spirits, smiling softly when he sees his co-workers, causing Jaehwan to wipe away fake tears as he announces to the others that the world is going to be ending soon. Taekwoon rolls his eyes, but he isn’t deterred, going to the bright red piano and playing a few notes as the others begin opening up. 

When he goes to the dog cafe for his usual spell, it’s Sanghyuk at the front counter, taking the bills from him as he pays the entrance fee and Taekwoon looks down at the floor, biting down on his bottom lip. Today it’s Kong that follows him to his table, the husky is light colored --   _ tan and white with strikingly icy blue eyes _ \-- and far too large to be sitting in Taekwoon’s lap, but he allows it, a heavy tail wagging at his hip. 

The day after that, Taekwoon is finally reunited with Ravi. Sanghyuk smiles at him as he usually does, handing Taekwoon his americano and informing him of Ravi’s recent escapades. 

“He had a kidney stone, so we took him to the vet for surgery. He’s healing now, but he’s on a controlled diet, so no treats, okay?” The last part is directed right at Taekwoon who in turn ducks his head shyly. He can’t help it if Ravi gives him the puppy eyes, it’s his weakness. When Taekwoon looks back up, he feels his cheek heat up even more at the sight of Sanghyuk, something getting caught in his throat. The other male only lets out a breathy laugh and Taekwoon scurries away, knee deep in a pool of embarrassment. 

The day it all really starts is in January, the cold biting Taekwoon’s pale skin in red patches as he shuffles into the store, keeping his muffler attached to his face because the heater in this place really is just terrible. Halfway through the day is when Taekwoon is dusting one of the smaller pianos, a polished black upright brand. It’s when he’s pressing a stray key for amusement that he turns to become face to face with Sanghyuk of all people, the usual smile being brighter than usual and practically blinding Taekwoon in the process. 

“Hey,” he greets, voice casual and light, eyes flickering down to the piano. “I heard you play last time.” 

Taekwoon can’t find the words in him, so he nods, trying to figure out the quickest escape route to the back room. Sanghyuk doesn’t stop there though, invading Taekwoon’s personal space as he brings his own hand over to press down on a key, the soft sound relaxing even still in the situation. “Can I help you with something?” Taekwoon asks nervously, voice soft and it takes all his willpower to keep it from shaking. 

Sanghyuk nods eagerly, taking a step back to allow Taekwoon to breathe as he points a long finger to the piano. “I wanted to buy one of these, but I’m not sure which.” 

“A...whole piano?” He asks in astonishment, blinking slowly at Sanghyuk. 

“Well, I can’t buy it in parts,” he laughs and it’s only all the more blinding. “It isn’t for me, it’s for my girlfriend, her birthday is coming up and I know she really likes music. She finally moved into a proper house and I thought a real piano instead of her old keyboard would make a wonderful housewarming gift.” 

And oh. Taekwoon should have really seen this coming, of course Sanghyuk has a girlfriend, of course Sanghyuk isn’t gay. Handsome, kind, perfectly brilliant Sanghyuk has a girlfriend,  _ of course _ . 

“I’ll go get someone to help you with that then,” Taekwoon says, voice slightly deflated as he begins to turn on his heels, only to be stopped by a hand gripping lightly at his elbow. 

“Actually, I was wondering if you could be the one to help me,” says Sanghyuk quickly, immediately releasing his hold on Taekwoon as soon as the other stops. 

It’s a submerging feeling knowing that Sanghyuk wants Taekwoon’s help specifically, so he can’t help but stutter out an unsure, “Me?” 

“Yes,” he says simply, letting out a breathless chuckle. “I want to know what you’d prefer. Besides, it’ll be easier with someone I know.” 

Someone he knows? As in, Taekwoon? Sanghyuk is saying he knows Taekwoon, but that can’t be right, they don’t know each other, not the way Taekwoon wants to at least. But maybe, possibly, Sanghyuk is trying to be friends here, maybe he’s already thinking of Taekwoon that way and it’s so overwhelming that this person in front of him, that Sanghyuk’s words alone make Taekwoon constantly feel like he’s been hit with a twenty ton freight train. 

He shows Sanghyuk around after that, they don’t have many pianos, because they take up space and there is only so much to work with in their store, especially because Jaehwan is so insistent on stocking up on practically every single brass instrument there can possibly be in an orchestra. Sanghyuk doesn’t say much, which makes it difficult for Taekwoon because he has no idea what it is exactly Sanghyuk is looking for (he himself is pretty sure Sanghyuk has no clue either) and all Taekwoon really does it just talk and talk about the different types and sizes and which would be more convenient and which are easier to care for and Sanghyuk, mostly, he just listens to Taekwoon ramble on in his quiet voice. 

When Taekwoon is finished with his explanation, he looks at Sanghyuk expectantly, hoping the other will have decided easily and pick which to buy so he can go hide in a hole for the rest of his life. It’s weird, to have so much of Sanghyuk’s attention on him, to have those almond eyes flicker between the keys and back to Taekwoon. He’s suddenly back to square one, months of having strangers stare at him have almost become an obsolete feeling niggling in the back of his head, but now, he’s all too aware of the pair of eyes that keep returning to look at him with such registered interest. 

“Can you show me around more? Maybe, maybe she’d like something else. What other instruments do you guys have that would interest a pianist?” 

“Uhm,” Taekwoon starts, because he’s not really sure. He took a few music courses in college, but his major was ultimately Literature and this all isn’t really part of his job in the first place. Ara or Yoonjo should really be the ones helping Sanghyuk right now, not Taekwoon who for the life of him, cannot stop feeling a slight pang of  _ something _ whenever Sanghyuk mentions his girlfriend. None the less, he continues to show Sanghyuk around, bringing him to see their collection of guitars and percussion instruments, things you play with your hands. Sanghyuk looks around, but he doesn’t seem as interested, not as interested as he seems whenever Taekwoon talks and that causes his neck to color, but thank God he’s still wearing his muffler or else he’d be exposed and beyond embarrassed. 

“Have you decided?” Taekwoon asks when they stand idly in front of the display of violins. Sanghyuk is staring blankly in front of him, as if he is assessing the string instruments, except he isn’t focused and Taekwoon can feel his throat constricting already from how much he’s talked the entire tour. 

“No,” says Sanghyuk, closing his eyes and turning to face Taekwoon before opening them. “I think I’ll come back on my next day off.” 

And that’s how it starts. 

His next day off, as it turns out to be, is two weeks from now, so Taekwoon has enough time to suffocate on his feelings before letting them settle. He also takes that time to do a little more research on the different types of instruments they carry and he even googles ‘ _ how to be a good salesperson _ ’ at some point too. Taekwoon practices on other customers too, trying to greet them and ask if they need help through terse smiles and awkward stances. He scares away more than he lures in, by the end of the first week, Juhee is all but exhausted by watching him work. She doesn’t stop him though, none of the others do too, because it’s an  _ improvement _ and Jaehwan keeps annoyingly reminding them that the world is ending. Taekwoon ignores him, they all do.

“Don’t think about it,” says Ara one afternoon, a natural smile on her face and she directs it towards Taekwoon. “Don’t let your nerves take over, just do what you want to do in your head.”

It’s harder than it sounds, but it is still helpful. Taekwoon doesn’t think about it, doesn’t think about forcing a friendly smile on his face or trying to stand upright and professionally. Instead, he just relays the information in his mind, how to be helpful, how to wait patiently, Taekwoon doesn’t let his nerves take over. They all support him after that, giving Taekwoon tips and letting him take his time through all the steps, he’s learning to interact better and actually making sells, which makes Juhee grin widely in that ridiculously mischievous way that makes her and Jaehwan seem like mirrored reflections. 

“I’ll come by tomorrow if that’s fine,” Sanghyuk says when Taekwoon is seated in his usual spot, Ravi snoring softly in his lap. “Same time as last time.”

That’s a bit of a problem because Taekwoon doesn’t even remember what the time was last time, but he nods, wordlessly at Sanghyuk who flashes him a smile and goes back to work. It leaves Taekwoon feeling warm, each time Sanghyuk does that and now they’re meeting tomorrow (it isn’t a date, Taekwoon will be working and Sanghyuk will be a customer, but they’re meeting none the less and Taekwoon lets his heart race at the thought) with a set time and Taekwoon may or may not smile into his americano. 

He goes to work early the next day, greeted by only Ara who apparently is in charge of opening up. Truthfully, Taekwoon is aware she is the only responsible employee at Venus, even compared to himself. It starts off slow, as it usually does. A woman comes in to get her son’s clarinet reed replaced, two teens ditching school browse through their guitars before they get kicked out for trying to shoplift, a little girl and her grandma come in to purchase a trot CD, and then it’s Sanghyuk entering when the little bell chimes. 

“Hello,” Taekwoon greets, in the way he’s taught himself to in the last two weeks. It sounds natural, it sounds good, his voice doesn’t shake and his knees are in place. Sanghyuk smiles at him and it all sort of crumbles instantaneously. 

“Hey,” he says casually, pulling his gloves off and stuffing them into the pocket of his coat. Despite the cold, Sanghyuk still looks warm, from his toffee colored hair to the dark reds of his sneakers, he looks warm in every way that makes Taekwoon wish he could be immune to the side effects that Sanghyuk seems to keep making him suffer through. “I’m back.” 

“Yes,” Taekwoon says lamely, almost completely formally and it sounds weird. He’s pretty sure Sanghyuk is younger than him, but he’s a customer none the less, so Taekwoon stands a little taller, even though Sanghyuk’s six feet of ridiculous height still makes him appear smaller. “Pianos again?” 

“No, not those,” Sanghyuk says immediately, looking over to the brass section. “We didn’t get to talk about trumpets last time.” 

Trumpets? Wasn’t Sanghyuk looking for something for his girlfriend? They hadn’t gone through that section last time because Taekwoon assumed she wouldn’t have the lung capacity for trumpets or the like if she was a pianist. She could learn, or course, or maybe she already did. He didn’t want to question it though, nodding slightly in silent confusion before leading the way to the brass section, Sanghyuk trailing eagerly. It’s a repeat of last time, Taekwoon talking as much as he can without getting winded, and Sanghyuk hardly talking while showing barely any interest into the instruments. Somewhere in between aisles, Jaehwan bumps into them.

“Taekwoon, Yoonjo was wondering if you could play--  _ oh _ .” Jaehwan stops in his tracks, looking at Taekwoon before looking over at Sanghyuk and then back at Taekwoon. He curses inwardly that Jaehwan of all people had to come talk to him now when he’s with Sanghyuk. It isn’t anything strange, he tells himself, he’s just doing his job after all, nothing to feel embarrassed or ashamed about. It isn’t like he got  _ caught _ , it’s just Sanghyuk. But, this is just Jaehwan and Jaehwan has some weirdly amused look on his face. “Uh,” he chuckles slightly, “Yoonjo wants you to play up front.” 

He’s going to refuse, he’s busy right now, trying to make a sale that will get Juhee beaming because her employees are all wonderful. Taekwoon opens his mouth to let Jaehwan know that, but it’s Sanghyuk who speaks up, interrupting him.

“You’re going to play?” He asks innocently, a glint in his eye. He’s expecting a yes out of Taekwoon and foolishly, it’s what he agrees to. 

Playing while knowing Sanghyuk is  _ right there _ makes him all the more nervous, Yoonjo standing in her usual spot, completely unaware of how off key Taekwoon seems to be feeling. But, he plays as marvelously as he always has, effortlessly his hands do what they do, playing the familiar tune to accompany Yoonjo’s falsetto and it’s a slight sense of security he feels when he plays like this. He realizes, this is what Ara was talking about, this is not thinking about it, this is not letting his nerves take over. When they finish, there’s the slight applause from whoever has stopped to listen and Taekwoon only blushes momentarily when he sees Sanghyuk’s very wide grin flashing at him. 

“You were amazing!” Sanghyuk all but shouts as he bounces over to Taekwoon, soft admiration in his eyes. “I’m still really awestruck.” 

“What’d you think of Yoonjo?” A voice asks from behind Sanghyuk and it’s Jaehwan. 

“Oh, I--” Sanghyuk blinks, embarrassed. “She was really great too, but not-- not like, Taekwoon-ssi.” 

Taekwoon could melt into the floor right now. This is what a double kill must feel like, he thinks very briefly. Sanghyuk praising him over Yoonjo, who in her very own right is amazing in every sense of the word. Not only that, but he’s actually addressed Taekwoon with his name, something he wasn’t sure Sanghyuk had even known, but of course after writing down his name countlessly on paper coffee cups, he would know. 

“You really like his piano playing?” Jaehwan asks, tone leading to somewhere that Taekwoon is  _ not _ going to like.

“Yes, of course,” Sanghyuk answers honestly and so, so innocently. 

“Then you should hear him actually sing, he sounds even better like that than when playing piano.”

Without so much as blinking an eyelash, Sanghyuk turns to Taekwoon, something pleading in his big round eyes as he lowers his head to look up at the other under prettily swept eyelashes. He opens those  [ lips ](https://40.media.tumblr.com/43bf105dc2663af5e6785febe58c6df8/tumblr_nr53fsJPGJ1s4junso1_540.jpg) of his which have curved into a playful pout as he begins to speak and it takes all of Taekwoon’s will power to turn away. 

“No, absolutely not,” he says, closing his eyes as Sanghyuk tries to get back into his viewpoint. 

“I didn’t even say anything!” Sanghyuk whines, resembling Jaehwan almost instantly and it makes Taekwoon want to punch Jaehwan just for good measure. 

Before anything else can be said or done, a group of shrieking girls make their way over to Taekwoon, the heavy smell of perfume following them and Taekwoon does his best not to scrunch his nose. Questions get flown around and Taekwoon tries to answer them as best as he can, his salesperson work mode still turned on and Sanghyuk offers him a goodbye smile before waving and turning on his heel, leaving the pit of Taekwoon’s stomach feeling very heavy. Jaehwan pulls at least half of those girls away, giving Taekwoon breathing room as the store gets busier and soon, the little toffee top of Sanghyuk’s head is gone. 

Taekwoon doesn’t see Sanghyuk until Monday, when he goes in for his usual lunch break. Ravi trails after him as usual and Taekwoon pets him in between the ears, smiling fondly at the little guy who’s been recovering so well these last few weeks. Sanghyuk stops by almost as soon as Taekwoon sits down, placing his usual americano on the table. 

“Sorry I left so suddenly last time,” Sanghyuk says, a little embarrassed. “This one’s on the house.”

“No, it was my fault, I--”

“You were doing your job,” he says, stopping Taekwoon from making an excuse. “Besides, I took up too much of your time. I’m thinking, I’ll just stick to getting her a piano. Are you working this Saturday? It’s my next day off.” 

That makes Taekwoon frown, he was helping Sanghyuk first after all, before Jaehwan and having to play the piano and then those girls. Sanghyuk was first. However, Taekwoon only has enough time to shake his head, “I don’t work on the weekends.”

Sanghyuk seems deflated at that, “Oh.” Taekwoon should feel bad, he really should, but he isn’t entirely sure what it is that he should be feeling bad about. He can’t really change the fact that he doesn’t work on the weekends, it’s the only two days he gets to himself where he doesn’t have to listen to Jaehwan’s raucous ramblings. It isn’t his fault anyways, he hasn’t said anything wrong, but the way Sanghyuk reacts is enough to make Taekwoon feel like he  _ has _ done something wrong. 

“I can come in,” Taekwoon says immediately, “If you’re just coming in to buy the piano, then I can come in and talk to Juhee about it, she’s the owner.” 

He looks a little surprised, but so is Taekwoon so it isn’t too shocking between the two. He feels a little silly, this whole thing with Sanghyuk is a little silly because he has a girlfriend and Taekwoon has this weird infatuation with him and if he keeps pursuing it, it’ll end badly. But, apparently, Sanghyuk is none the wiser either. 

“That’d be great! I’ll make sure to be quick about it so you don’t waste your day off.” 

He’s smiling that brilliant smile at Taekwoon and who can blame him for his infatuation anyways? Sanghyuk is a hot fiery star tumbling at full speed towards Taekwoon. “It isn’t a bother.” 

The rest of the week goes by almost too quickly, only time to momentarily pause whenever Taekwoon goes into the dog cafe at his usual time, Sanghyuk always having a hot cup of americano ready for him so he doesn’t have to order anymore. Taekwoon’s grateful for that, one of the two female employees have been giving him strange looks and it’s enough to unnerve him whenever Sanghyuk doesn’t stop by his table to chat with him. Saturday comes and when Ara opens up to see Taekwoon shifting awkwardly from feet to feet, she raises a curious brow. He doesn’t really have to explain himself, because she lets him in without asking and he’s so thankful for that. 

When Sanghyuk comes in, it isn’t until in the late afternoon. He apologizes profusely, but Taekwoon doesn’t mind, up until Sanghyuk had shown up, the day progressed as it would any other. The only slight problem which poses it that Taekwoon is surrounded by the same mill of girls, all giggling and trying to stand just the tiniest bit closer and it’s all overwhelming. He isn’t even working today.

Taekwoon’s cheeks are flushed from all the talking and people being so close to him and he’s fumbling over words, trying to finish up quickly to go and be with Sanghyuk, but the girls are relentless and Taekwoon is overwhelmed when Jaehwan stumbles out of no-where, shouting loudly and shuffling the girls away. “Woonie isn’t working today, he’s meeting a date. You’ll have to come back another time!”

It’s a joke, obviously, but Taekwoon still glares at Jaehwan, despite the other coming in to save him. Jaehwan grins as he guides the girls out, passing by Sanghyuk on the way.

“You’ve got a date today?” Sanghyuk asks, brow furrowed and voice a little too curious. Taekwoon shakes his head immediately, stupid Jaehwan. 

“No, he’s joking,” he mumbles, letting out a tired sigh. “Have you decided on your piano yet?”

Sanghyuk smiles, a little more brightly than usual but the way his eyes crinkle distract Taekwoon enough from questioning it. “Yes! I really like that piano from the first day. The upright one? I think it’ll look really nice in her living room.”

Usually, Taekwoon would feel annoyed, having wasted all that time just to go back to the start. This time however, it’s a little bittersweet. This is ultimately the end, not entirely, but ultimately the end of Sanghyuk coming to see Taekwoon and Taekwoon having to talk endlessly about music. He nods, brings Sanghyuk to the piano and leaves him to go call for Juhee. She’s enthusiastic about selling the old thing, it had been in the store for almost four years now and after a few keys pressed on the register, Juhee decides to give Sanghyuk a discount.

“Because you’re the first friend Taekwoon’s brought here,” she says, smiling that smile that makes Taekwoon feel wary. “We hope you’ll come back.”

Sanghyuk agrees he will, only because it’s polite to and then he’s gone, on his way and waving goodbye to Taekwoon, who lifts a very reluctant hand back at Sanghyuk. 

It’s a little sad, Taekwoon wishes he could have spent more time with Sanghyuk, but it’s Juhee’s finger tapping lightly on his shoulder that springs him back to life. “He left his card,” she says holding the piece of plastic out for Taekwoon, who takes it wordlessly, dashing out of the store as quick as his legs will take him, running uncertainly for Sanghyuk, who is probably on a bus or something by now for all Taekwoon knows that the other does on his days off. Taekwoon is barely out of the department store’s building when he crashes right into Sanghyuk, forcing the other down onto the floor with him as they collide. The other male is groaning when Taekwoon manages to sit upright, looking over at Sanghyuk who’s sprawled out on the floor beside him, completely distraught. 

“Taekwoon-ssi?” He grumbles, rubbing at his arm. “Way to say hello, I didn’t know you missed me this badly, I was only gone for a few minutes,” he jokes, a silly grin slapped on his face. 

Taekwoon visibly blushes and he looks away. “Sorry about that. You forgot your card.” 

He hands Sanghyuk the card, who blinks slowly at it and laughs, the sound resonating quietly in Taekwoon’s ears. The other male stands, pulling himself off the ground and Taekwoon immediately follows suit, realizing how ridiculous the two must look to shopping passerbyers. He dusts his backside off, cheeks red in the winter air and breaths coming out in white puffs. Sanghyuk slides his card away carefully before looking up at Taekwoon through his long fringe, that same silly grin still threatening to tear out Taekwoon’s insides. 

“Want to go get dinner? Since you’re not working or anything and neither am I.” 

He asks it so arbitrarily, as if he’s asked this question a thousand times before to others, as if it doesn’t mean much to ask someone out to eat with you. And it really shouldn’t, Taekwoon understands, he’s gone out to eat with friends before and really, that’s what Juhee had called them, right? Friends? Neither denied it and a part of Taekwoon sort of really wishes they were friends. Maybe they are. 

Sanghyuk nudges him lightly, cocking his head out to the direction of the shopping district across the street. “I know a really nice place that has some great gopchang.”

Taekwoon nods, only because he can’t refuse Sanghyuk and they walk side by side down the street and something dangerous begins to take form in Taekwoon, but he ignores it in favor for the feeling of Sanghyuk’s arm brushing against his every now and then as they walk. 

“Do you think you can come by after work?” Sanghyuk asks out of the blue one afternoon, handing Taekwoon his coffee while Ken follows him around. “One of our dogs just had puppies.”

He immediately perks up at that, sitting up straight to look at Sanghyuk with eyes that could be glowing with delight. “Really? I can come see?” 

Sanghyuk laughs, “Yeah. She gave birth two days ago. I was thinking you’d might like to see the puppies.” 

And of course Taekwoon does, when doesn’t he want to go see the baby version of animals? They decide on Taekwoon coming back after his work is done, which isn’t at least until after seven. Sanghyuk isn’t technically off until all the dogs are taken care of, which could last up until ten or eleven at night and Taekwoon definitely thinks those hours a tad unfair. It isn’t until he’s coming back, moonlight shining on the little dog cafe, that he finds out Sanghyuk owns the place. 

“My sisters and I run it,” he says, sheepishly upon revealing it to Taekwoon. “That’s why I’m always working.” 

“You get to be with dogs all day?” Taekwoon can only manage to say, thinking the whole thing is kind of marvelous. 

Sanghyuk lets out that breathy laugh of his, nodding as he leads Taekwoon upstairs, an area restricted to anyone but employees and he can’t help but feel somewhat special at getting access. There’s a smaller room upstairs, no other furniture aside from the lone loveseat that looks worn and old, but Taekwoon doesn’t mind when Sanghyuk tells him to take a seat. In the corner of the room is one of those plastic doghouses that should really be outside, but it resides in the corner of the room instead and Taekwoon can already tell what is inside. Sanghyuk sits in front of the entrance, cooing softly and asking the canine questions about how she and her pups are doing. He pulls them out, all curled together on the dark brown dog bed and Taekwoon stands to get a better look. She’s a black dachshund, slightly bigger than Ravi and Ken, but still smaller than Kong. She lets out a soft whine when she spots Taekwoon, who has to sit back down at Sanghyuk’s insistence. 

“She might not let you touch the puppies yet,” he says, scooting over to give Taekwoon room to see. Six puppies, he spots six puppies all curled around her, a multitude of colors and he sort of turns to goop inside from how cute they all look. Sanghyuk grins up at him, pleased. “Her name is N-mi, she’s our oldest dog so she doesn’t go down to the cafe often.”

Taekwoon nods, silently keeping his eyes on them, watching the way they blindly crawl around, mewling for their mother and N-mi responds by nudging her nose at them, licking the tops of their furry little heads with her tongue. He watches in fascination because he’s never really seen puppies before, not this young and up close. They’re much cuter this way, he thinks, being viewed like this and Taekwoon loses count of the time after a solid ten minutes have passed and Sanghyuk finally stands from his seat on the floor to join Taekwoon on the loveseat. 

“You really like dogs, don’t you?” He asks, leaning back against the worn cushions. 

“Yes,” Taekwoon says, trying not to think about how close they are right now. “All animals.”

“Then you’re a good person then,” he says, voice light. When Taekwoon turns to look at him, finally prying his eyes away from N-mi and her litter, Sanghyuk’s smile isn’t blinding him this time. It’s softer, much more relaxed and satisfied, like he’s thankful for Taekwoon being here and saying the things he’s said. “I think if you keep stopping by, you’ll grow on N-mi and she might even let you hold one of her puppies.”

“You really think?” Taekwoon asks, excited and almost child-like. He doesn’t notice when Sanghyuk snorts softly.

“Yeah,” says Sanghyuk simply, folding his arms and closing eyes as Taekwoon continues to gaze lovingly at N-mi and her puppies.  

It starts to piece itself little by little after that, their friendship forms, naturally and almost effortlessly with Sanghyuk doing all the talking now, keeping Taekwoon entranced beyond imagine and simply just being  _ Sanghyuk _ . The overwhelming sense of it is almost completely gone, because Taekwoon gets to call and text Sanghyuk now, he gets to meet up with him after work and have dinner together and see the puppies and the ultimate end he thought was coming never comes. They see each other almost regularly and Taekwoon doesn’t mind that he has to go out to see Sanghyuk, in fact, he craves it almost, wanting to never come home if it means he doesn’t get to see that blindingly beautiful smile that he has so become besotted over. 

However, it doesn’t have much time to solidify, not when spring begins to end and Sanghyuk shoots Taekwoon an off-handed text, asking him if he’s free to go to a mixer. 

He’s startled, because of course this was going to happen at some point. Sanghyuk doesn’t know, he isn’t aware that Taekwoon does not like girls, that he likes boys--  _ that he likes Sanghyuk _ . His hands tremble while holding the phone, unsure of how to respond. Sanghyuk would understand right? He’d understand it if Taekwoon said he didn’t want to go, of course, because Taekwoon doesn’t like gatherings anyways, he’s a homebody (though he’s spent the least amount of time home in the last ten years since meeting Sanghyuk) who doesn’t like going out to meet with strangers. Taekwoon replies, a little late but he replies none the less, telling Sanghyuk he isn’t interested. It isn’t a lie and it only slightly curves around the truth, the truth that he isn’t really interested in anyone but Sanghyuk. 

The call comes out of no where. Taekwoon nearly drops his phone as he answers.

“What do you mean not interested?” Sanghyuk asks, tone hard. “I thought you wanted a girlfriend?”

“I--  _ what? _ ” Taekwoon splutters wordlessly, because  _ what the fuck? _ What could he have possibly given away to indicate that he wanted a girlfriend? That he wanted anyone else but Sanghyuk? 

“Oh, come on. Don’t try to deny it. I’ve seen you around girls, always so  _ shy _ ,” Sanghyuk says and Taekwoon briefly registers that he’s being teased right now. “You always get so deflated when I mention my girlfriend too, I thought you were lonely?”

And he isn’t lonely, not in that sense, not when he spends his days at work with Jaehwan and them and not when he spends his time out of work with Sanghyuk and the puppies. Taekwoon isn’t lonely, if anything, he’s quite satisfied with his life right now, everything he could possibly need within walking distance and the idea of dating sounds nice sometimes, but not like this, not by meeting them in a mixer and definitely not by going to one where there will be nothing but girls to try and entertain himself with. Taekwoon hasn’t ever liked girls, not in the romantic sense where he was expected to court her and just be attracted to her in that way. No, he’s always known that he prefers the same sex, the he likes the taut curves of a man’s body to the softer ones of a woman’s. He splutters again, this time gibberish trying to form an excuse because he can’t properly explain himself to Sanghyuk right now, not when his cheeks have become flush with embarrassment and his head muddled with uncertainty. It’s a cruel fate, perhaps, when the boy you like tries to invite you to meet with girls. 

“Hyung,” Sanghyuk says calmly and Taekwoon actually feels like his nerves spike up. It’s only been a while since Sanghyuk has picked up the term, the two discovering that there was in fact a five year age gap between them. Sanghyuk was just so fucking young. The new honorific does nothing to help Taekwoon ease his feelings, the adoration of him being  _ Sanghyuk’s hyung _ and Sanghyuk being  _ his dongsaeng _ simply making him feel more like there was some sort of hold on the other, that a part of each other belonged to one another. “It’s okay, you don’t have to go if it makes you uncomfortable, I just thought--”

“I’m gay,” he blurts out, feeling guilty at making Sanghyuk regret trying to do him a favor. “I like guys.” 

The line is silent for far too long, the seconds stretching out into eons as Taekwoon tries his hardest to not fucking vomit all over the place. He’s never felt such a sense of vertigo hit him like this, the acids in his stomach swirling like whirlpools. All he needs is Sanghyuk to reply, to respond in any way, to let him know what he thinks. Even if Sanghyuk hates him for it, finds him disgusting, that’s enough for Taekwoon, to let him be thrown back into reality and wake up from this dream like existence that Sanghyuk has brought with him into Taekwoon’s life. It’s probably only a minute later, but Taekwoon feels like he’s practically fifty, bones stiff and posture overturned when Sanghyuk lets out a tiny, “oh” into the receiver. 

“Y-Yes,” Taekwoon fumbles out, voice so shaky and he’s afraid that even over the phone, all his emotions will pour out through his voice. 

“That’s a little. I didn’t know. But, that’s kind of.” Sanghyuk’s voice keeps halting and it’s annoying really, when Taekwoon detects that hint of disgust in his voice and he really wishes Sanghyuk would just say it aloud and be done with it instead of trying to be delicate about the difficulty of the words he really wants to say. He can hear it in his voice, but Sanghyuk is refusing to admit it to Taekwoon and he sort of hates Sanghyuk for it. He sort of hates himself mostly.

He sucks in a breath of air, not really sure what to say anymore because this wasn’t really the way he envisioned letting Sanghyuk know. A part of him kind of never wanted to let him know. Taekwoon doesn’t say anything after that, it’s just really him and Sanghyuk breathing almost silently into the line now, a strange awkward tension that’s never really been between the two surfaces and then Taekwoon hangs up without saying anything else. 

He stops going to the dog cafe for lunch after that, instead just wandering around Hongdae with no particular destination in mind aside from circling his way back to Venus. If the others seems to catch onto his new moody self, they don’t really say anything about it, not even Jaehwan who has stopped deeming the world to be ending. It’s enough for now and Taekwoon is glad they for once actually leave him alone because he fears that if even sweet little Yoonjo was just trying to help him, he’d explode and scream at her, and he really doesn’t want to do that. He goes through the motions, waking in the morning and going to work, assisting those that he can while wasting time in the back room, returning home to eat a pathetic microwave dinner and then crashing on his very small and lumpy mattress. 

Maybe Taekwoon is lonely. Maybe all he really had was Sanghyuk after all. 

Somewhere in between seasons, Sanghyuk walks into Venus while Taekwoon is tuning the bright red piano in the store front. He doesn’t notice at first, simply because he’s occupied and because usually when the door chimes, Ara or Yoonjo will already be there with a professional smile slathered on their face, ready to simply greet or assist. But this time there isn’t the gentle lull of their voices talking to a customer, just Taekwoon pressing against the keys, tuning the piano and looking listlessly at how fucking  _ red _ the thing is. 

A voice peeks up behind him, small and careful, “Hi.”

Taekwoon pauses, the familiar need to run away as quickly as possible resurfacing in his memory and he feels like he’s sinking all over again when he turns to see a toffee haired boy standing in front of him, gloves shoved carelessly into his coat pocket as he smiles wanly at Taekwoon, a tired look on his face. Taekwoon’s heartstrings tug lightly, because he’s never seen Sanghyuk like this.

“Hello,” he says back, softly, without much of anything in his voice. 

Sanghyuk stands awkwardly in the store, like he isn’t sure if he belongs or not


	18. hyuken - turpentine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> part of what inspired me to write this fic was the fact that hyunsik was an art student in btob's it's okay mv lmao anyways this au is about jaehwan getting into an accident and developing memory loss to everything that has to do with his relationship with sanghyuk. there was a scene i really wanted to write about jaehwan being more concerned about hyuk's bday over kyungri's! both hyuk and kyungri were born on july 5th, five years apart.

There stands a boy.

Jaehwan blinks aways the speckles of light still stuck to the inside of his eyelids to get a better look at the figure standing just outside of the entrance to his art studio. He isn’t really a boy, he’s rather tall, dresses like a young adult in his early twenties and has a nice pair of expensive basketball shoes on that Jaehwan figures mommy and daddy didn’t buy. He clears his throat rather loudly to get Hyunsik’s attention. 

“Someone’s outside,” he whispers for no reason, there isn’t anyone else close enough to hear them speak.

Hyunsik allows his eyes to flicker upwards briefly, seemingly not surprised at seeing the boy standing there through the large glass window displayed at the front of the studio. He immediately goes back to his current sketch, grunting softly. “Just a passerby.” 

That is what Jaehwan decides to brush it off as as he too goes back to the task at hand; a commissioned painting of a grieving family’s dead daughter. She had only been seventeen, walking down the street late at night after cram school when two cars had collided in the rain, resulting in her untimely death. The portrait so far was coming out beautifully, Jaehwan simply following along to photos of the girl, a painting they would hang in the home to remember her by as she had enjoyed art in her life. It was a sweet tribute to her, he thought. 

That had been three months ago, the weather was warmer and more welcoming then, but Jaehwan isn’t particularly against autumn either. He spends the seemingly shorter days in the studio, sketching and painting and keeping busy. Hyunsik only comes into work every other day, while Seokjin drops by to bring Jaehwan his meals, commenting on how he needs to have a balanced diet while he’s still young or else he’ll die early. It’s a simple lifestyle, small and fulfilling, but Jaehwan still feels slightly incomplete somehow. 

And then, he sees him again.

It’s colder this time of year and the sun has barely set, leaving the sky in its aftereffects of violet and orange blends, casting shadows over the boy’s young face. Jaehwan wants to paint that image onto canvas. 

“Can I help you?” He asks this time, standing a few feet away from the studio, returning home from buying more art supplies at the store down the street. 

The boy in front of him turns and Jaehwan gets a better look at him, realizing they’ve met once before. “I was just passing by,” he answers, taken by surprise. “I’ll be going now.” 

“Wait,” Jaehwan stops him, grabbing his arm in possibly what could be described as the corniest action to get a person’s attention. The boy only seems alarmed and Jaehwan lets go immediately. “Aren’t you Sanghyuk-ssi? The one from the hospital?”

“Yes,” he stammers, surprised and staring at Jaehwan with wide eyes. “You remember me.”

“You were there when I woke up,” Jaehwan says, recalling the very first person he had seen when he had awoke in the hospital. A teary eyed boy with shaggy bangs that needed a good cut. “Were you by any chance looking for me?” 

Sanghyuk shakes his head, “No, as I was saying, I was just passing by.”

“But this is my studio.” Jaehwan points up at the prettily carved wooden sign hanging just above their heads. “Eternity.” 

“Yes,” Sanghyuk mumbles out softly, looking longingly at the sign and something in Jaehwan’s chest flutters. The moment itself seems almost eternal in a weird and yet calming way. It’s almost as if Sanghyuk belongs there.

“I want to paint you,” he blurts out, immediately clamping a hand over his mouth afterwards. 

There is a brief moment of silence before something hysterical pours out of Sanghyuk’s mouth as he laughs, shaking his head in what Jaehwan can only card out to be disbelief. “My modeling fees are high, you know?” 

“I’m sorry,” he apologizes, embarrassed. He pulls up the plastic bags in his hand and gestures his head towards the building. “I just went out and got some tea, you wouldn’t mind a cup, right? I have some things I’d like to talk to you about from the hospital.” 

Jaehwan catches hesitation in Sanghyuk’s movements. “Maybe some other time. I really should be going now, it’s getting late.” 

“Oh,” says Jaehwan, deflated. “It’s just that I never got to talk to you much after I woke up. You left so suddenly and didn’t come back.” 

“Sorry about that,” he says, something in his voice sounding completely unapologetic. “I’ll be going now.”

“No, it’s cool,” Jaehwan shakes his head, bringing a smile to his lips, “Pass by again, okay?”

To that, Sanghyuk returns the smile. “We’ll see,” he teases gently, a type of sadness lingering in the action.

It takes only a minute for Sanghyuk to be gone down the road, his shadow casted far off with himself and Jaehwan stays long enough for the first stars to begin to shine in the night sky as he watches Sanghyuk get smaller and smaller and disappear. 

“-hwan. Jaehwan.” 

“Hm?” 

“Did you hear any of what I just said?” Kyungsoo asks, hand on his hip and a crease in his brow. 

“Uh, yeah.”

“Don’t lie,” Heeyeon chides in, ready to scold Jaehwan at every opportunity. Jaehwan sticks his tongue out at her. 

“I was saying,” Kyungsoo starts again, “They’re opening a dance studio across the street where that old couple had their flower shop. What looks like the new owner has been peering over here all morning.” 

Jaehwan squints in the direction of the storefront across the street, seeing blurred figures moving back and forth from a moving truck. He vaguely recalls a flower shop, but the memory seems very distant. “What happened to the old couple?”

Heeyeon shares a look with Kyungsoo, one Jaehwan misses before she answers, “The wife passed away and the husband went to go stay in a nursing home.”

“Don’t they have any kids to--”

“Make sure to greet your new neighbor properly,” Kyungsoo interrupts. “Seokjin said he won’t be able to come over tonight so you’ve gotta figure out dinner on your own.”

“You won’t cook for me?” Jaehwan pouts and Kyungsoo flicks his forehead. 

“Not even if you begged.”

“What about you--” Before Jaehwan can even finish his sentence, Heeyeon has already got her tools packed away and is striding over to the door. 

“I’ll treat you out some other time!” She calls behind her back.

“Traitor!” Jaehwan screeches. Though, he is glad she offered to treat him instead of cook. The last time he had anything she made was in college and they were celebrating--

“Are you okay?” Kyungsoo asks, seeing the pained look of confusion on Jaehwan’s face.

“Yeah,” he grumbles, “I just. I can’t remember something again.”

“Have you gone to your annual check up this year?” 

He shakes his head, “I was going to wait until after Chuseok to go.”

“Make sure you go,” Kyungsoo says sternly and Jaehwan rolls his eyes.

“Yes, mother.” 

-

“You’re doing fine,” the doctor says, leafing through Jaehwan’s tests and x-rays. “Your memory is still something that will take time to completely recover though. Think of it as simply being asleep.”

Jaehwan sighs. “I wish I had an alarm to wake it up then.”

Out of politeness or actual amusement, the doctor barks out a laugh. “In some cases, that might actually work. If you had the right alarm.” 

He doesn’t really get the time to indulge in anything more as the doctor is called away and Jaehwan heads home, ready to finish off the rest of the persimmons his new neighbor had dropped off. He had forgotten Kyungsoo’s advice of properly greeting her first, but she had been the one to knock on his door, a gift of fresh persimmons from her hometown. She had introduced herself as Park Kyungri, a twenty-eight year old dance instructor who moved from the countryside to Seoul to open a bigger studio than her last one. She was only two years older than Jaehwan but the upkeep of her health and body made her appear much younger and Jaehwan couldn’t deny that she was just  _ really hot _ . Needless to say, they had hit it off. She was friendly and talkative, played along with all of Jaehwan’s jokes and even knew a few art terms to impress him. 

He only makes it as far as the convenience store down the street from home before bumping into a familiar Sanghyuk. 

“You!” He practically gasps out as Sanghyuk blinks back at him, a triangle kimbap in hand. 

“Me,” he says blandly, going back to throwing multiple snacks and instant meals into his basket. 

“I mean,” Jaehwan fumbles with his words, “You never came back to the studio.”

“I just haven’t had time to pass by,” Sanghyuk mumbles, wetting his lips with his tongue. 

“Pass by right now,” he blurts out. “I mean, my new neighbor just gave me some persimmons and they’d go great with tea this time of year. Beats cold triangle kimbap, right?” 

Sanghyuk squints his eyes, “Nothing beats cold triangle kimbap.”

“Well, that’s only if you want to dismiss sausage in ramyun.”

“You--” he starts, a inch closer to Jaehwan before backing down. There’s a grin on Jaehwan’s face. “I’m only passing by for the food.” 

“Of course,” Jaehwan says innocently, whisking Sanghyuk’s basket away. 

The walk there is filled with intervals of awkward silence and somewhat intimate banter. There’s a spinning sensation in Jaehwan’s head from how quickly Sanghyuk seems to switch things up between them, but something about it is strangely calming as they make their way into his studio. 

“I live upstairs,” he says, guiding Sanghyuk to the back where a door leading to the stairs awaits them. Jaehwan quickly unlocks it, shoving his keys back into his coat. “I used to leave it unlocked all the time, but once when I held a gallery some of the female high school students thought it’d be funny to rummage around. They stole--”

It’s happening again. Jaehwan furrows his brow and scrunches his face trying to recall what exactly it had been that they had found and took home. It had been something so important and yet, he can’t even remember what it was. 

“Is everything alright?” Sanghyuk asks, worry laced in his voice. Jaehwan immediately straightens himself up.

“Yeah, sorry. Uhm, anyways, come on up.”

Wordlessly, the two go up, entering his apartment and Sanghyuk inhales deeply. 

“Oh, yeah. I accidentally broke a bottle of turpentine in here last time. The smell is hard as hell to get out of the carpet.” 

“Turpentine?” Sanghyuk asks.

“It’s like uh, a cleaning oil? I use it on my brushes.” 

“Oh.”

“It’s a strong scent, you’ll have to deal with it, sorry.” Jaehwan starts shuffling trash and other things alike away as he walks into the apartment. “Feel free to sit anywhere.” 

“It’s fine, I actually kind of like it,” he says, making his way to sit on the edge of the bed by the only window in the whole room. It’s small and covered in dust, but Sanghyuk glances out of it wistfully. Jaehwan can feel his own fingers twitching. He instead goes to start boiling the water, an excuse to keep himself busy.

“So, Sanghyuk-ssi,” he starts, after hot tea and ramyun with sausages have been served. “Are you a student?"

“No,” he answers simply, frowning. “Drop the ‘ssi’, I’m younger than you.” 

Jaehwan’s brow furrows a little at that. “How do you know?” 

He clears his throat, “You have to be at least twenty-five to own a business in this neighborhood, right?”

“Oh. Yeah,” Jaehwan clicks his tongue. “You’re sharp.”

“I pride in it,” he grins, “I’m twenty-three this year.” 

“A baby!” 

Sanghyuk sneers with annoyance, the grin getting wiped off easily. “I’m already a college graduate, thank you very much.”

“Mhm,” Jaehwan hums playfully, “What’d you major in?” 

“...Business.” Something seems --  _ off _ \-- in Sanghyuk, making Jaehwan regret asking for a moment. He seems to easily shake it off though. “What about you? Did you go to university?” 

“Yeah, I finished all that up roughly four years ago. Time sure flies by.” 

“Yeah,” he repeats, voice softly trailing off. 

It’s now or never, Jaehwan decides, eyes trained on Sanghyuk. It’s been a year since his accident and when he had first cracked open his eyes in the all too brightly lit hospital, the first person he had seen was Sanghyuk. His hair was longer back then, a dark ebony in contrast to his pale complexion, eyes red and overflowing with tears that Jaehwan had the deep need to brush away. Sanghyuk looked absolutely haggard back then in Jaehwan’s memory, but it had been easy to recognize him once more when he had seen him again standing in front of his studio. The striking features of Sanghyuk’s nose and cheeks and jaw etching its way in Jaehwan’s fresh memory. That, including the glassy look in his eyes hadn’t changed in the past year. 

“Hey, listen,” he says, fumbling with his hands, trying to casually roll the words off his tongue. “At the hospital. You left so suddenly, I didn’t get to talk to you properly.” 

“It was just bad timing,” Sanghyuk says, voice calm and prepared. As if he’s practiced the lines. “I mistook you for someone else.”

And Jaehwan knows that is a lie. Sanghyuk had panicked in the hospital, running out of the room and calling a nurse, a doctor, whoever he could find. Jaehwan could hear yelling everywhere and then he was swarmed by people, so much talking and touching and he kept catching glances of Sanghyuk from the corner of his eye, a worried look pressed painfully in his face. And when Jaehwan had asked who was that boy standing in the corner of his hospital room, the worried look on Sanghyuk’s face melted off into one of utter disturbance. The nurse simply laughed at the question,  _ “It’s Sanghyuk-ssi, silly” _ and Jaehwan had thought he must be some volunteer or specialist who had come seen Jaehwan in the hospital, but something-- something was far too off with that story, just like the one out of Sanghyuk’s mouth. 

“I hope you’ll forget about that,” Sanghyuk says, a soft smile on his face. An unnatural one. 

And of course, what else can Jaehwan do in a situation like this. “Sure.” 

“Thanks for dinner,” Sanghyuk says when he leaves and Jaehwan walks him all the way out of the shop. Sanghyuk tells him he doesn’t need to come out into the cold night just for that, but Jaehwan insists and the younger male laughs at his integrity. He watches him turn smaller and smaller, just like before and something in Jaehwan feels less incomplete. 

-

“You two on a date?” 

Jaehwan is startled when Hyunsik’s head pops in between his and Kyungri’s, blocking his view of the woman. 

“Well, if it was, then you’re third wheeling it right now, buddy.” Jaehwan huffs at him before pushing his face out of the way and grinning sheepishly at Kyungri who returns the gesture. 

It started out innocent enough, Jaehwan asking Kyungri if she knew of any simple meals to make for first time cooks. That had turned into a study session which then evolved into shopping and now the two both made their way back to Jaehwan’s apartment with the idea of Kyungri giving him a ‘lesson’, though Jaehwan can’t quite figure out what the wine is for. 

“She’s helping me make dinner,” Jaehwan says, pulling his keys out to open the door to the stairs. “What are you even doing here?” 

“I left some things in the storage room so I came to pick them up real quick,” Hyunsik explains. “I’m Hyunsik, by the way. I help Jaehwan run things here. And you are--?”

“Kyungri. I own the dance studio across the street, I just moved in in September.” 

Hyunsik’s smile is wide if not completely mischievous, “I see. Well, I’ll leave you two to it then. He’s hopeless in the kitchen, by the way. Set a bowl of salad on fire once.” 

“I never did--”

“Alright, bye you two! It was a pleasure meeting you.” He’s off and gone after that and Jaehwan can feel the light fuzziness in his brain begin to scream in agony over not recalling another memory. Maybe he did once burn a salad. 

The cooking lesson goes a bit easier from then on, as easy as it could possibly get. Hyunsik was definitely right about Jaehwan being hopeless in the kitchen. He cuts himself in generally the same spot five times while trying to slice a tomato and burns the pot Kyungri lent him while boiling eggs. Overall, the day ends in disaster and whatever possible romantic ambience could be created is easily dissipated as Jaehwan struggles to actually  _ learn _ something. Kyungri herself is patient though, if not entirely worried Jaehwan might burn down the whole building.

They end the night by making somewhat successful custard pudding.

“It tastes like...a whole egg is in my mouth. A raw one.” 

Kyungri’s lips purse and she shrugs. “It’s better than trying to bake something for now. I can see how horrific that would go down.”

“Hey!” Jaehwan whines, laughter spilling from his eyes and mouth. “I tried, okay.”

“Well, it’s late. I should be going,” she announces moments later, pulling her coat on. “Just. Keep practicing, I suppose.”

“Sorry about the pot,” he says sheepishly and she gives him a smile.

“Now you owe me one,” is her response before gently pressing a sweet kiss to his cheek. “You should clean up, I’ll walk myself out.” 

“I--” Jaehwan says dumbly, nodding as she playfully pushes him towards the direction of the kitchen. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Jaehwan.” 

He feels a bit dreamy as he closes the door behind her, hearing her heeled shoes softly thump down the stairs. It somehow feels familiar to him, hearing this sound -- the sound of someone else in his home. He decides to lock up the storefront later as soon as he focuses back on the kitchen, the dishes piled high and mysterious substances stuck on his walls like a paste. Kyungri is either an angel sent to save him or a devil playing tricks. Either way, he’s positively screwed. 

-

_ “I want to draw you,” Jaehwan says, his voice sweet and thick like honey, spreading over every nerve of Sanghyuk’s body.  _

_ “Are you trying to tell me that you don’t have at least fifty hidden sketches of me already?” He replies, giggling in Jaehwan’s arms as the older of the two nuzzles his nose against Sanghyuk’s bare neck.  _

_ “Try two hundred,” he snorts, running his hands gently over Sanghyuk’s naked torso. “A real drawing though, please?”  _

_ Sanghyuk freezes, suddenly confused about the plea. “Like, where I pose or something?”  _

_ “Or something,” Jaehwan says softly, kissing the shell of his ear. “I just want to observe up closely and draw you like that.” _

_ “You’re doing some pretty close observation right now,” Sanghyuk retorts as Jaehwan’s warm hands slide over his chest. He shudders.  _

_ “This is personal observation,” he replies and Sanghyuk turns around to face him so that their shoulders brush against each other. “Let me draw you in the studio.” _

_ “We’ll see,” he says in a soft voice, inching closer to kiss Jaehwan, their noses poking each other’s cheeks.  _

-

The end of November is especially brutal on the little neighborhood in Seoul that Jaehwan resides in as snow begins to pile up and the nights become colder. Jaehwan can’t believe he lives in such a place with a half working heater and a bed far too big with way too little blankets. Times like these he imagines holding someone, sharing their warmth and feeling like the blizzards outside are happening in some far off place away from them. There’s Kyungri, he briefly recalls, they had been busy the last few days, only managing to exchange brief greetings. Maybe she’d be the perfect body pillow for him in these times. 

He struggles with simple things during the early winter, getting too lazy to get out of bed even to use the bathroom. But, he still has to open the studio for the students that use it and Hyunsik along with his spare key have both gone out of town for the week to visit his family. Downstairs is far colder than upstairs since Jaehwan hardly comes down to turn the heater on to save up gas and money. It feels like he’s in an icebox as he goes to turn everything on and set up shop, his gloved fingers turning icey. 

A soft knock on the glass window at the front of the store has him whipping his head to see who it is outside so early. Upon seeing Sanghyuk standing behind the frosty glass window with the bright snowy backdrop illuminating the younger, Jaehwan immediately ignores his urge to pick up a pencil and rushes to let the younger in. 

“Are you insane? It’s freezing out and you decide to pass by before the sun has even fully risen?” 

“Well,” Sanghyuk says as he shuffles in, brushing fresh snow off the top of his head. “I didn’t come to just pass by today.” 

Jaehwan ushers him all the way in and closes the door shut behind them, cranking the heater to full heat before spinning around to raise an eyebrow at Sanghyuk. “So you walked through all that snow for--?”

“...I had some leftover curry from dinner last night,” Sanghyuk says deadpan, pulling a large tupperware container from inside of a lunchbag. “I thought you might want some.” 

In a mixed state of both surprise and disbelief, Jaehwan finds himself shaking his head. “That’s it?”

“What do you mean that’s it? I came all this way to give you proper food as thanks for the sorry excuse of dinner you made last time.” 

“Sorry my food wasn’t good enough for your exquisite curry loving tastes,” Jaehwan sneers in mock anger and Sanghyuk grins. 

“Do you want to eat or not?” He asks and to be honest, it is quite tempting. 

“I have to finish up here,” he quickly says, nodding his head off in the direction of the back. “Door’s still unlocked so let yourself up and heat it up please I’m starving.” 

“Not afraid I’ll steal your underwear?” He jokes, but something in Jaehwan’s mind snaps together like an alarm has just set off in the cavity of his brain. 

“Say that again?” Jaehwan quips, taking a step closer to Sanghyuk, eyes squinted and heart thumping loudly in his chest.

“I just. I said,” Sanghyuk begins, nervously licking at his lips. “I was just kidding, Jaehwan. I’m not an underwear thief.” 

“I--” he shakes his head and backs off. “Sorry, I know we said to not mention it, but since that day I woke up in the hospital, I’ve had memory issues. I just felt like you made me remember something.” 

“Amnesia?” 

“Of the sort. There are varying chunks of my memory that have gone missing, but I think I just remembered that the girls stole a pair of my...underwear?” He shakes his head. They definitely stole a nice pair of boxers, but Jaehwan can’t place that those were his exact pair. 

“I’m sorry to hear about that,” Sanghyuk says, eyes looking somewhere far off, somewhere Jaehwan can’t seem to reach. “About both the amnesia and the underwear,” he continues on with a light tone, excusing himself upstairs. 

The curry is mild, but warming and Jaehwan wishes he could eat like this everyday. Seokjin is more into packing him salads and clear soups with fish. He could definitely eat more savory foods like Sanghyuk’s curry. 

“Do you cook all your meals yourself?” Jaehwan asks, having his third serving. 

“When I can. I started a new part time job and I’m going back to school.”

“Business major not proving to be useful?” Jaehwan asks around a mouthful of curry.

Sanghyuk laughs softly, “Unfortunately, no.” 

If he wants to further question him, Jaehwan choses not to, instead standing up to stretch. “I’ve gotta open up shop now. The neighborhood kids all come around weekend mornings for art lessons and I’m the best teacher ‘round these parts.” 

“Yikes, poor kids,” Sanghyuk mumbles to himself and Jaehwan kicks his shin from under the table. Thank God for long limbs. 

“You’re welcome to come down and observe if you want,” he offers after apologizing for kicking him after Sanghyuk made a big stink about it.

“Sure. Just let me clean up, I guess.” 

“Right. Don’t steal my underwear please.” 

To that, Sanghyuk throws a crumpled up napkin at him and Jaehwan is a giggling fit when he goes downstairs to let his students in. 

It’s an hour before Sanghyuk joins the class downstairs, reluctantly greeting the neighborhood kids and grannies that Jaehwan has been teaching since after his accident. He had never really even played with the idea of taking on students before his accident, however the doctors had assured him that it would be a good type of therapy for him and it had somewhat proven to be true. He definitely wasn’t concerned with certain things when he had a class to teach now. 

Sanghyuk doesn’t go to Jaehwan at first, just walks around looking at the studio. He circles around other students, talks with the grannies and smiles at an old painting of a beat up blue car. He lingers there the longest, that far off look in his eyes doubled with the soft winter light reflecting off his chocolate colored hair make Jaehwan’s hands move all on their own. It isn’t until the child by his ankles pulls at his trousers does he break his gaze. 

“Teacher Lee, you were supposed to draw a sunflower for me to see.” 

“I--” he glances down at the sketchpad in his hands, a rough looking drawing of Sanghyuk in his current state sketched out on the sheet. His eyes widen. “I’m so sorry,” he apologizes, quickly ripping out the page and crumpling it away into his back pocket before beginning his drawing of the sunflower. 

“It was a pretty drawing, Teacher Lee,” the child says, starry eyed. “But not a sunflower.”

“Not exactly,” he chuckles, shaking his head at his own words. “Here, all done.” 

“Thank you!” 

The student smiles widely, running along to the desk shared with the other children and Jaehwan turns his head back to the painting of the blue car, except Sanghyuk is no longer there. 

“The kids sure love you, Teacher Lee.” 

Jaehwan whips around to see Sanghyuk standing on his other side, grinning. His heart nearly jumps out of his chest.

“Holy shit,” he whispers so the children and grannies won’t hear. “Don’t scare me like that.”

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Sanghyuk teases, a glint in his eye and Jaehwan wishes he could capture that on a canvas. 

“I want to paint you,” he blurts out for the second time, mesmerized by the way Sanghyuk’s face scrunches up at the sudden statement. 

“Trust me, you couldn’t afford my modeling fees,” he says, pursing his lips. Jaehwan wants to draw that too. 

“How about a deal then,” he quickly adds in before the subject can be changed. “I’ll make you dinner every night for two weeks if you let me paint you.” 

This seems to make Sanghyuk burst into a fit of giggles, before getting violently shushed by a ruler in Jaehwan’s apron. “Can you even cook?” He asks, trying to catch his breath. 

“I have been taking lessons, okay? I can make custard pudding!” 

“I can’t have that,” Sanghyuk says, wiping a nonexistent tear from the corner of his eye. “I’m lactose intolerant. No dairy products.” 

“What a weak stomach,” Jaehwan comments, earning a not-so-gentle smack to the arm from Sanghyuk. “I can make other stuff I’ll have you know.” 

“I’ll believe it when I see it Mr. Sausage in Ramyun.” 

“That’s an instant classic,” Jaehwan grumbles. “So we have a deal then?” 

There’s a moment of silence as Sanghyuk ponders it, another expression on this boy that Jaehwan wants to copy down in colors and oils. “Just. Two weeks?” 

“Two weeks with a possible extension, I don’t know if I’ll be able to get a product I’ll be pleased with in the end.” 

Sanghyuk lets out a weak laugh. “No extension. I’m only doing this for the food anyways.”


	19. hyuken - this is my therapy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> i dont have much to say about this one except that i really hate it lmao i just had this idea and ran with it but i didnt really clean up anything about it. also if gugudan had been a debuted group around 2015 when i wrote this then they would have replaced the lovelyz members in here.

It hadn’t been Sanghyuk’s fault, not entirely he tells himself for the following five years that come. They were children at the time, barely starting at the academy and it was Jaehwan’s idea to go out that night, watch the storm as it passed through the valley. Sanghyuk told him it was a bad idea, but he could never control Jaehwan, never get the other to stop from moving onward with any of his wild ideas. Watching the storm wasn’t even wild -- just stupid -- but Sanghyuk knew he should have stopped Jaehwan, pulled him back through the barrier’s threshold or go call for some kind of help from an instructor or guard. But it was Jaehwan. He had bright eyes and a taste for the unknown, he would chase storms to the end of the world if he could. Sanghyuk had no right to stop that. 

It’s the nightmares that usually remind him.

He wakes up in cold sweat, legs numb and eyes blown open from the vivid memory of a Tempest swallowing Jaehwan into it’s dark void. Sanghyuk can still feel the fury of white rain cutting through his skin and burning him, he can still hear Jaehwan’s voice over the wind and thunder. Sanghyuk wonders if this will ever go away.

“You okay, kiddo?” Hakyeon asks that morning when they rally for attendance, all eight members of group twenty-four lined up neatly outside of their bunks. The smell of mildew is especially strong and Sanghyuk figures that it must have rained heavily last night, not nearly a storm, but brimming on one. He shakes his head when Hakyeon’s eyes only bore deeper holes into him. He’s not  _ okay _ , but he’s functional and he knows Hakyeon wouldn’t have known about his dream, but Hakyeon knows that when it rains, so does Han Sanghyuk.

“Gonna be a slow day,” Sanghyuk says moments later when their group instructor, Hyoshin leaves after checking to see that everyone is in fact present. Attendance used to only be taken in emergencies, not as a daily chore, not since Jaehwan. 

“We’ll get through it,” Hakyeon afirms, smiling warmly. “We always do.”

The sun beats down on all the moisture of the wetlands, puddles as large as small lakes spread throughout the plains and the once redwoods resemble a rainforest covered in thick layers of moss and vines. Sanghyuk can feel temperature change dramatically and he knows what is to expected later tonight. A storm is coming. A big one, with Tempests.

“How can we even have a storm?” Sujeong mumbles, tying down loose tarps and any other items that may become lost. “There are no clouds.” 

She’s new to the group, new to the entire sanction of trappers and Sanghyuk envies her naivety. Storms rise from the ground, they go wherever the Tempests drag them, holding them with invisible ropes and leading them through all areas of the land, bringing chaos and ruin with them, eating and spitting out all that cross their path. 

They’re mysterious entities that have plagued Sanghyuk’s people for as long as he can recall, the land of the west is not favored in advanced technology or enigmas from the deep sea. Sanghyuk lives in nothing but clouds and lightning, the smell of petrichor never leaving, he’s certain that it has become his own scent. 

“The Tempests cary storms as high as the sky, they sweep over all the western earth -- sunshine or not,” Mijoo explains, re-tying a knot that Sujeong had sloppily assembled. “You’ll learn to smell a brewing storm when you get used to living here.” 

“I don’t think I ever will,” she mumbles, looking at the soft tufts of grass beneath her feet. “It’s so weird. The eastern continent is submerged in the ocean, did you know? We lived on large metal ships and sailed through the wind. There was no earth to sweep.” 

Sanghyuk has never heard much about other continents, none of them have. It makes him feel funny thinking about a place with no storms, with no trappers, and no Tempests to trap. It’s absurd, but he doesn’t imagine a life without all of this, it must be akin to the way Sujeong is trying to adjust to this new lifestyle. Everyone knows her story by now, she’s been with them for almost a month. The fleet she was apart of had been taken over by pirates, she escaped with a few others on contraband ships, eventually washing up on the western continent, Sanghyuk’s group eventually taking her in as one of their own. 

“We should finish up soon,” Mijoo announces, pulling together the last bits of rope. “Hyoshin will be by the bunks to take attendance before dinner.” 

“Another thing I’m still getting used to,” sighs Sujeong. 

The day feels much slower than usual. 

-

There’s a ghost that has been following Sanghyuk for the last week. 

It was a faint feeling a first. Nothing more than wisp of human life, at least that was what Sanghyuk had originally figured. They linger, not as long as ghosts, but they can be seen by anyone who pays them attention. The wisps lurk in dark corners of the mind and hide in shadows of the trees, watching, wilting. They’re mostly harmless, so people ignore them, they become nothing in a matter of days, slipping from this world to the other, fading.

But the one that lingers behind Sanghyuk’s steps is something more, a clearer image of a living being -- brighter -- but still dull in life. It;s on the seventh day that he decides to investigate into the matter, catching flickers of movement in the corner of his eye and he waits until nightfall before he rises from his bunk, careful steps as to not awake his cabin mates as he heads out into the wild night. It’s clear, nothing but the moon reflecting brightly into the lakes of rainwater, the sound of grass being swayed by a gentle breeze. The stars are shining down on Sanghyuk and he inhales before turning to face his ghost -- true in every sense of the word. 

“You don’t look surprised to see me,” it says, a hollow sound that rides the wind to Sanghyuk’s ears. It’s an eerie sound, familiar, but very different and the comparison sends a chill through his body. 

“You’ve been festering inside of me, it was only a matter of  time,” Sanghyuk says through stiff lips, he’s never been more terrified in his entire life. 

“I’m real, Sanghyuk. I’m not apart of your guilt.”

“You’re not real,” Sanghyuk states, more so to himself than the ghost. It’s frightening, but he finds himself hanging onto the words of the being in front of him.

It takes a step closer to him -- closer and closer -- and Sanghyuk is frozen in place, his legs haven given out way before he was aware of. He should run, it’s the sane thing to do, but a part of him believes he wouldn’t even if he could. The ghost is only a few feet away from him now, much too close for Sanghyuk’s comfort and he can see things -- images -- swimming in it’s eyes and it’s a while before Sanghyuk realizes that they are memories replying in a fast pace, dancing circles around his mind and he can only feel a dark cloud swallow him whole before everything else turns black. 

It’s Hongbin along with Taekwoon who find him. They belong to a different group, but it’s outside of their bunker that they find Sanghyuk passed out, red scars along his eyelids and big black bruises pressed against his pale skin. They begin to take him to the infirmary immediately, but Taekwoon stops when he feels cold fingers wrapping around his bare ankle. Hongbin nearly drops Sanghyuk from his scream, but both boys are more than horrified when a dirt covered boy in nothing but his birthday suit crumbles out of the ground, a small crinkle of a smile on his face as he asks softly for help, then presumably passes out from what they are later told is nothing more than exhaustion.

-

The first time Sanghyuk had ever seen those emerald green eyes flash before him was the first storm that had rolled over since Jaehwan had vanished. Sanghyuk was so sure of it though, enough that he ran out of his bed, pushing out of an eighteen year old Hakyeon’s arms just to run back out into the middle of a storm, rain spraying against him, wind tousling him around and Sanghyuk was still so tiny then. They flashed again, once more before their group leader at the time had grabbed him forcefully and pulled him back into the confines of their current housing, Sanghyuk stopped fighting by then.

The second time had been when they crossed the grasslands, it was a smaller storm, but Sanghyuk saw those bright orbs all the same, calling out to him and he chased it then too, Hakyeon screaming after him. The sixth time was the last, after they had settled in the seam between lands and they began to rebuild their society, Sanghyuk being a permanent member in group twenty-four. The eyes were sadder then, almost as if saying farewell and Sanghyuk doesn’t come to that conclusion until  _ his _ ghost begins to appear. 

Jaehwan has resurfaced. 

He sits upright a little too quick, head almost hitting the overhead light they used to examine him with and Sanghyuk’s eyes dilate at the sun peeking in through the small window above the door. He’s in the infirmary, he recalls the bleached walls and stainless sheets, it’s unnerving being in here because the last time he was was when Hakyeon had taken that nasty hit to the head and received that ugly scar across his forehead, which is now impossible to spot with the way Hakyeon keeps his fringe thick and long. It reminds Sanghyuk of all his mistakes and failures.

There is a soft knock against the wall as Hyoshin steps from behind the bed curtain used to give Sanghyuk privacy and he grins a little at his group instructor. 

“I didn’t run into another storm did I?” Sanghyuk asks with a lilted tone, his nerves drowned in medicine. 

“Storm isn’t for another two nights,” Hyoshin explains and then hums softly. “Though something interesting sure appeared from the earth.”

“Emeralds?” Sanghyuk says, tone light but expression vaguely solemn. He passed out but he still remembers enough.


	20. luck - unripe peaches

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this one is the longest of the bunch with 11k of words and the last line stops mid sentence. 
> 
> i'm a bit sad since i started this one this year (2017) and i was actually expecting to finish it because i had planned and spent so much time on it. i gave myself a few months to decide if i would finish or not and unfortunately, i am not going to finish this. overall i still don't know if i'll ever write vixx fic again, but anything could happen. this and my knk vampire fic are the only two things i've worked on this entire year and i'm really sad that i couldn't finish this one ;;; if i had, it would be a oneshot well over 30k.

The new term has barely started and already Taekwoon feels like he’s sinking down into a butt-load of school work added on top of his regular duties as captain of the track team. They’re a relatively new school, only a handful of gangly teens at the all boy’s academy and Wonshik (a pesky second year who has taken it upon himself to sit with Taekwoon at lunch everyday as if they were  _ friends _ ) continues to whine about the lack of female students. It’s an annoying character trait that haunts every hormonal student in these halls. What exactly were they expecting in an all boy’s school? 

Despite the lack of students, the teachers sure don’t hold back on assigning class work, even to the third year sports students-- Taekwoon especially.

“It’s lunch, why are you doing homework?” Wonshik pesters, even though he knows that Taekwoon has no time after school. 

“There’s a track meet in less than six months and Mr. Park just gives us all this bullshit English homework, I should sue.”

“You’re not even an exam student, what are you worried about?”

Ah, yes. Despite the school being split in two -- cultural arts courses and sports courses -- there’s still the option to take entrance exams for third years, but Taekwoon knows that a sports scholarship will only get him so far. If he can’t keep his grades up, he’s afraid of being pulled from the team. 

“Not all of us enjoy getting zero marks on our tests, you know?” 

Wonshik protests, “They’re not  _ all  _ zeroes!” 

He snorts. Wonshik is a regular on the basketball team and is known as the ace, even Taekwoon who hasn’t seen a single game since entering the school knows just how popular Wonshik is among both the sports and cultural arts students. It’s grating, but he’s talented enough to get into any college upon recommendation and there have even been people coming to the school to scout him despite still being a second year. Being a prodigy must be so easy-going.

“Oh hey, I’ve been meaning to ask, but do you know Han Sanghyuk? He’s a first year that just joined the regular line up,” Wonshik brings up out of no-where, poking a cherry tomato with his chopsticks. 

“Never heard of the kid, why?” 

“He asked me about you a while back,” he casually says before stuffing the tomato in his mouth. “Wahnedta meetsha.” 

Taekwoon furrows his brow. “Speak after swallowing. Please.” 

Wonshik does just that. “He wants to meet you.” 

Meet with Taekwoon? Whatever for? He’s not going to be a daily nuisance like Wonshik, is he? Taekwoon has enough underclassmen on the team to worry about too, he doesn’t need any more outside of club activities, especially a first year. 

“Not interested,” he replies, going back to reading his textbook. 

“That’s exactly what I told him too, but he seemed insistent.” 

Great. Just what Taekwoon needs. “What do I look like? A friendly person?”

“The opposite of one, actually,” Wonshik says with calculating eyes. “Good thing I’m one or else you’d be the lonely maid of the twelfth grade.” 

“The what-- is that-- is that even a _ thing _ ?” 

“It rhymes so it must be.” 

God, Taekwoon can’t wait to graduate and see much less of Wonshik. 

-

On top of all the school work and regular club activities, Taekwoon has been unanimously elected by his peers to represent the third years as a sports festival committee member and the stress could not be anymore real. 

“Why do I have to do this?” He grumbles, Mr. Park calmly grading papers at his desk. 

“You were chosen by everyone in the twelfth grade, it can’t be helped. Besides, I think it’s also a good idea, you look like you could round up the kids if they misbehave.” 

“I’m a babysitter?”

“Basically,” Mr. Park smiles up at Taekwoon, “Coach Seo is the acting advisor though, so next time you have a problem, bring it to him instead.” 

Oh, yes. Mr. Park -- despite being his homeroom teacher -- is part of the cultural arts division, he’d side with them in a heartbeat. Admitting defeat, Taekwoon has no other option but to go to the damn meetings after class, chipping away precious minutes that he could be using for practice instead. 

The sports festival committee consists of eight first years, four second years, and two third years-- Taekwoon included. He isn’t that familiar with his third year partner, a stocky boy with hair dyed a crimson red named Lee Minhyuk. Taekwoon thinks he’s on the soccer team or something -- he’s not entirely sure about anyone that isn’t on the track team. Wonshik is also present, half asleep but present nonetheless. There’s a second year track member named Kim Youjin there and that puts Taekwoon a little bit at ease (not entirely, knowing full well that another member of his team has to miss out on precious practice time as well) if not fully on edge. He lets Minhyuk take the lead in directing the committee. 

“Well,” he coughs, immediately quieting down the room. “Coach Seo couldn’t join us today, he’s preparing for the swim meet in two weeks so we’re on our own for the time being. We’ll draw lots to see who will be working on what for the sports festival and-- God, will someone wake Wonshik.”

The snores of the second year are quite deafening and Taekwoon is thankful he’ll never have to share a tent on the annual school camping trip with Wonshik. A rather lean first year that Taekwoon’s never seen before pokes Wonshik in the shoulder, stirring him awake. 

“Hyung, you’re in trouble,” he says matter-of-fact and Taekwoon snorts. His tone is impressive for an underclassman talking to an upperclassman. 

Wonshik grumbles some, but sits up before yawning, earning an annoyed glare from Minhyuk.

“As I was saying,” he huffs, “We’re gonna draw lots for stage preparations, field preparations, and event organizers. Since the stage is the biggest, but also the simplest thing to do, there’ll only be three open spots for that.”

That’s it, the stage preparations! Sure, it’s hell having to build the damn thing, but Taekwoon can leave as early as he wants to since having to build the stage wouldn’t take up too much time. There’d only be three of them working on it too, so he wouldn’t have to concern himself with the gaggle of first years that look like they’re going to piss themselves in his presence. It’s the best choice of the three.

“Alright,” Minhyuk announces after all the lots have been drawn. “The members of the stage preparation team are Han Sanghyuk, Kim Wonshik, and Park Jinwoo.” He quickly writes up the names in his notebook, moving on to the team for field preparations, during which Taekwoon internally shoots himself. 

“It could be a lot worse,” Hakyeon says later that night when he calls Taekwoon up. “Minhyuk’s a good leader, you guys will be able to decide on events quickly.” 

“There’s six of us on the event organizing team and every year it’s a mess. All they do is argue for hours on end, I’m never going to make it to practice.” 

Hakyeon sighs on the other end of the receiver. “Can’t you get someone to switch with you?”

“I’ve already asked Wonshik and he flat out declined. I don’t know the other two well enough to ask.” 

“Taekwoon, I think it’s time to abuse your powers as a third year and get the first year to hand over his spot.” 

“Hakyeon, you know I can’t do that.”

“Still too nervous to talk to strangers?” 

He huffs. “I’m not nervous.”

“Then why don’t you do it?”

“Because--” he pauses to think of a reasonable excuse, “it’s wrong!” 

Hakyeon’s laugh is raucous, “Yeah, because Jung Taekwoon is known for doing the right thing.” 

“Look, haven’t I done enough being friends with Wonshik? Why does the universe ask more of me?” 

“Yeah right, I’m sure you’re only friends with Wonshik to avoid being the lonely maid of the twelfth grade since I’m not in the sports courses.” 

“How do you know that phrase? Why is that even a phrase?” 

“C’mon Taekwoon, everyone knows that phrase. It even rhymes.” 

-

By lunch the next day, Taekwoon is already half buried under the thought of spending four hours in hell with a bunch of arguing teenage boys that he barely even notices when Wonshik pulls up an empty chair next to his desk. 

“So, I’ve been thinking about it and I’ve decided to switch spots with you.”

Taekwoon can only blink at him. “You-- what?"

“I’ll switch with you,” he says, but quickly adds on, “if you agree to tutor me after the sports festival.”

Taekwoon blinks some more at him. “That’s exam time.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“You’re serious?”

“Yes.”

“You actually want to do good on your exams? Like, study and do your class work?”

Wonshik squints at him. “Yes. Do we have a deal?”

It’s not really that great of a deal since Taekwoon will still be wasting precious practice time, but if it’ll get him out of having to stay until sunset listening to the committee members babble then he’ll take it. “Deal,” he agrees all too easily, shaking Wonshik’s outstretched hand. 

The other two don’t arrive until ten minutes after Taekwoon’s already started measuring and sawing away, clearing not interested in whether or not they show up. He can easily recall the lean first year, he had been the one that woke up Wonshik during the first committee meeting, and well-- that’s all Taekwoon can really remember. Nothing else has left a lasting impression. 

“Jung sunbae, you didn’t have to start without us,” he says with some of the most polite and proper wording that Taekwoon has ever heard directed to him in his entire life. He almost hammers his hand to a board. 

“It’s fine,” he replies, shaking away the unease. The reply is so curt, yet so natural to him that he doesn’t notice how awkward the two first years become. They waddle around the entire time after that, constantly asking him questions that all fall under the line of “is this okay?” or “where do you want this?” and Taekwoon has to hold back on chewing off their heads. It doesn’t matter to him where or how things are done, as long as they get done. There are already charts and designs for them to follow, ones that have been used for the last four years and Taekwoon doesn’t understand why the other two need his approval over every single little thing. 

It isn’t until the lean one approaches him once more, the words “Jung sunbae” barely slipping past his tongue when Taekwoon snaps. 

“Don’t call me that,” he says, setting down the hammer in his hand to look the first year in the eye. It’s in that moment that Taekwoon realizes just how much taller the boy is, it’s upsetting having to look up at him. “Re-align the beams if they aren’t the same size, you don’t have to report to me about it.” 

“I-- right. Sorry, Jung sun--” he stops, nearly frozen before tentatively asking, “What should I call you?” 

He seems nervous-- shy, almost. Taekwoon grumbles to himself before shrugging. “Whatever you want.”

“Can-- can I call you hyung?”

Taekwoon blinks at him, a hitch in his brow. Why does he keep stuttering? Is Taekwoon that hard to talk to? “Sure, I said whatever you want.” 

The younger student beams and Taekwoon feels like his eyes are just about to pop out from how wide they are. Is that really something to get so happy over? He glances over at the other first year, a shorter boy with a mousy look that makes Taekwoon think of a hamster. “You can call me that too,” he says for good measure, wanting to gauge the reaction of the other. He only smiles sheepishly and nods. Well, so much for that. 

“I’m Han Sanghyuk, by the way,” says the lean one, “But call me Hyuk.” 

Taekwoon goes back to hammering, nodding in response to Sanghyuk. Hyuk is far easier to remember than Han Sanghyuk anyways. They get a fair amount of work done before five o’clock and that’s when Taekwoon decides to dismiss them. “You both must have practice to attend to too, we can call it for today.” 

“It’s okay!” Sanghyuk exclaims, “Jinwoo and I were late so the least we could do--”

“No,” Taekwoon interrupts, “It’d be bad for first years if you didn’t show up at least a little bit to practice. I’ll lock up, so you two can go ahead first.” 

That ends the conversation immediately, Sanghyuk resigning easily as he and the other first year pack up their belongings and depart. Taekwoon quickly locks up right after, dashing off to the track team’s practice field on the other side of the school. He’s seldom ever been late for practice, but he’d rather be late than not show up at all, especially when he knows he needs to be practicing. When he gets down to the field, the team is deeply immersed in doing nothing.

“Slacking off just because the captain’s not here, huh?” Taekwoon greets when he spots a second year playing games on his phone.

“You know it, that demon captain always has us running non-stop, but--” The second year freezes, catching Taekwoon’s glare. “I-I mean, no sir!!” 

“Tell the others I’ll be changed in five minutes and they all better be on their tenth lap around the field by then,” he says before flicking the back of the second year’s head to dismiss him. 

He’s frustrated. There is of course a vice-captain that should be taking care of the team in his stead, but the vice-captain is a no good skirt chaser who hasn’t been showing up to practice for the last month-- no doubt skipping to be with his new girlfriend or whatever. Practice ends sooner than he’d like, but that’s what happens when he ends up having to spend so much time with the sports festival committee. He stays an extra thirty minutes longer before the last bell rings, announcing that the school will be closing and he needs to leave before the front gate is closed. If it were up to him, he’d spend the whole night running, but as soon as he arrives home he bathes, has dinner, and then tries to figure out his homework before midnight. 

-

“How’s the preparations going?” 

Taekwoon groans, falling into a heap on his bed. “It’s been two weeks, I feel dead.”

“So, no different than usual?” Hakyeon asks absentmindedly, Taekwoon can hear him typing in the background. 

“My time isn’t going to improve if I continue doing this,” he sighs, frustrated. Why do they even need to have a sports festival anyways? Sure, people definitely fawn over the sports students more than the cultural arts students, but everyone knows that the cultural festival is the one that people look forward to every year. The sports festival is supposed to make the sports students feel better or something, but Taekwoon could care less about anything that interferes with his practice. 

“Taekwoon how often do you check Facebook?” Hakyeon suddenly asks, clearly ignoring Taekwoon’s woes. 

“What--”

“Probably never, huh? And you’re probably not friends with anyone in the cultural arts courses aside from me, so you one-hundred percent wouldn’t see all the posts of the back of your head-- oh wait, I can see your side profile in this one.”

“Hakyeon, what are you talking about?” 

“It’s all on Hyukkie’s wall, he seems to take a lot of selfies after school and you’re in the background of most of them. Way to ruin a photo, Woonie.” 

“I’m not ruining anything-- wait, who’s Hyukkie?” 

“Han Sanghyuk, monster rookie of the basketball team.”

“Hyuk? He’s not a cultural arts student either--”

“But he’s friends with both me and Hwanie, hell, he’s friends with possibly the entire school.”

Taekwoon’s brow furrows. “What does this have to do with me--”

“You’re always so oblivious,” Hakyeon interrupts him again. “No wonder why you’re still a virgin.”

“So are you!” Taekwoon says with much more offense than usual. This isn’t the first time Hakyeon’s called his virginity to attention.

“I’m only seventeen, I got time.”

“Hakyeon, we’re the same age!” 

The rest of the conversation is nothing but nonsense that has Taekwoon still fuming the next day as he unlocks the work room for the stage preparations. Why does Hakyeon always have to go parading around like he knows everything? He’s always dramatic and eccentric, it drives Taekwoon nuts sometimes. He’s sure that if they hadn’t grown up together, he’d never be friends with someone like Hakyeon. 

“Hyung, are you okay? You look constipated.” 

He scowls, turning to meet gazes with Sanghyuk. Is that how he speaks to all his upperclassmen? “I’m fine,” he answers, frowning. “You’re here early.” 

“I ran right after the bell,” he beams, proud for some reason. “Praise me.”

Taekwoon blinks at him. What is he, a kid? It makes Taekwoon think of his little nephew-- always trying hard to be praised. He can’t help the corner of his lips as they tip upwards. “Good job,” he huffs softly. 

Sanghyuk looks amazed and before he can speak again, the mousy first year is huffing right behind him. Looks like both underclassmen worked hard to be early today. Good, Taekwoon thinks, that just means they can finish the day’s work earlier. 

The other two are much more talkative than before, but Taekwoon doesn’t mind so long as they actually work. It seems they’re both on the basketball team and were worried that with Wonshik leading them they would get no work done. They aren’t exactly wrong, Taekwoon begins thinking back to last year when Wonshik was in charge of seating arrangements for the basketball team’s year end banquet and wound up forcing Taekwoon to help him last minute because he hadn’t accomplished squat.

“Are you close with Wonshik hyung?” Sanghyuk asks as they begin to finish up for the day. 

“Not really,” he answers. “Wonshik is just stuck to me like a parasite.” 

Sanghyuk bursts into laughter. “He’s always tagging you in stuff on Facebook though.”

“I told him not to do that,” Taekwoon grumbles. He’s suddenly reminded of his conversation with Hakyeon last night. What was it again? Sanghyuk taking selfies during their committee work time? “Hey. You sure like taking pictures of yourself, huh?” 

“I-- Yeah, I do.” Sanghyuk’s ears are red as if he’s been caught doing something bad and Taekwoon blinks at him. What’s with that reaction? 

“Uh, well, let’s call it a day today then--”

“Hyung, do you want to go grab something to eat after this?” Sanghyuk asks, ears even redder and fingers knotted together. 

“What are you saying? Hyuk, we have practice to get to.” Taekwoon puts the rest of his tools away, nodding at the mousy first year as he awkwardly waves bye. “Even Jiwoon is heading out.”

“Jinwoo, his name is Jinwoo,” Sanghyuk sighs in defeat. “You’re right. Sorry I asked.”

He looks deflated and Taekwoon can’t understand why. Does he really want to skip practice that badly? It won’t look good for a first year to be doing such, though. It isn’t something to apologize over either. Taekwoon waves Sanghyuk off as well before locking up, heart feeling heavy at rejecting the first year. 

-

It feels like a rock is sitting on him when he wakes up to find his vice-captain sprawled across his back. It’s been too many weeks for Taekwoon to recall, but it’s just enough time to burn out any anger he had when Jongdae stopped showing up for practice.

“Hey captain,” he greets, the same old mischievous grin on his face. “Missed me?”

“I think I’m going to miss the time you were away more,” Taekwoon groans, shoving the smaller male off. 

“So, you admit that you did miss me!” Jongdae croons, hugging Taekwoon by the neck. 

He immediately peels Jongdae back off. “What are you even doing here?” 

“Me? I came to start practice again, silly. Besides, the team looks like they need their reliable ol’ vice-captain back since you’re busy in the middle of a nap.” 

“It wasn’t a--” Taekwoon abruptly stops speaking, glancing around to see that he’s on the far end of the field, clearly resting under the shade of a tree. Oh. Right. He had fallen asleep. He had only meant to take a short break, but he must have been more exhausted than he thought. 

Jongdae lets out a low whistle, “Is the sports festival committee really killing you? Why am I even asking, of course it isn’t. You’re killing yourself by working too hard on building the stage and coming to practice while staying up all night doing homework, huh? I’m right aren’t I, of course I am, when aren’t I right--” 

Taekwoon pinches Jongdae’s nose, the other yelping. “You’re babbling.”

“Let go!” Jongdae whines and Taekwoon reluctantly obliges. The other does a full somersault before standing, hands flying up over his head like an airplane. “That’s it! You’re behaving violently to your loving wife! From here on out, I invoke my right as vice-captain of the track team and hereby ban you from practice until you stop looking like the living dead."

“You can’t ban me from practice--”

“I just did!” Jongdae hollers, making an ‘X’ with his arms. “I’ll even get Mr. Park to back me up on this and you know how he loves banning people from things.”

Taekwoon glares at Jongdae, a deep furrow in his brow. “You mean like the time he banned you from going up on the school roof because you got caught bringing girls up there?” 

“Water under the bridge,” Jongdae says. “If I see you come by tomorrow for practice, I’ll have you immediately kicked out, just try and see Jung Taekwoon.” 

-

“He’s being unreasonable!” Taekwoon huffs, arms folded across his chest like an infant. “I tried going to practice yesterday and he had the entire judo team throw me out. How the hell did he even get them to do that?” 

“That’s amazing,” Wonshik laughs, finding Taekwoon’s tantrum to be enjoyable. Oh, he wishes Hakyeon could see this. “But he’s right. You do need a break from club activities.”

“No, I need a break from the committee and Mr. Park’s weekly essays. The one thing I need to be doing is going to practice.”

“You’re never going to improve your time by forcing it, hyung,” Wonshik says, a wide yawn escaping him. “You’ll only wear yourself down. Take it easy until the sports festival.” 

Taekwoon scowls. That’s rich coming from Wonshik who always takes it easy. Taekwoon can’t afford to waste precious time like that, the track meet is four months away and he hasn’t been able to come anywhere close to beating his previous record. It’s almost like everyone is against him in this crucial time. 

By the end of the day he’s resigned to huffing as he tries to focus on stage preparations. There’s only Sanghyuk today, Jiwoon -- or whatever his name is -- had to leave school early due to spraining his ankle during P.E. class. Taekwoon is moody, though that’s easy to guess by the gloomy aura around him and perpetual scowl on his face. He doesn’t mean to snap when Sanghyuk asks him if he’s doing alright.

“Sorry,” he immediately apologizes, looking rather beat up about taking his anger out on a first year. “I’ve just been troubled lately.” 

“It’s okay!” Sanghyuk says with reassurance. “Wanna talk about it?” 

Taekwoon sighs, “What good would that do? I don’t want to bother you with my problems either.” 

“You’ll never know what good it will do unless you try,” Sanghyuk says, a grin on his face. “But, it’s okay either way hyung, you’re strong. I’m sure you’ll figure something out.” 

How lame, Taekwoon thinks, he’s being comforted by an underclassmen. What’s up with him lately? Why does he keep on showing only his bad sides? “You don’t even know what’s bothering me,” he says, scowl melting away. “How can you try to cheer me up with hollow words.”

“They aren’t hollow!” Sanghyuk says defensively, a small pout on his lips. “I don’t know, I read it in a manhwa before and thought I’d sound cool saying it.”

“That sounds completely hollow,” Taekwoon chuckles, shaking his head. What’s up with this kid?

“Did you just laugh at me!?” Sanghyuk yells, arms flailing. 

“I didn’t,” Taekwoon says, voice absolutely monotone.

“You were just a second ago!” 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Hyung!”

Sanghyuk’s flailing arms have resorted to attacking Taekwoon by now before they’re interrupted by his phone going off. It’s another annoying text from Jongdae warning him not to show up for practice and that he’s got everything handled. This is already the fifth one today, how many does he think he needs to send? 

“Who’s that from?” Sanghyuk asks, face red from his attack on Taekwoon.

“Vice-captain of the track team,” he answers, frowning. “I’m banned from practice.” 

“What? Can he even do that?” 

“Apparently,” Taekwoon groans. “We can end for today since Jiwoon isn’t here.”

“Jinwoo,” Sanghyuk corrects. His mouth opens to say something else before clamping shut again. He looks like the constipated one now. 

“Spit it out,” Taekwoon says, not liking when people beat around the bush. 

“Well--” Sanghyuk mumbles something before Taekwoon whacks him across the back of his head. “Ow! I just wanted to know if you wanted to go get something to eat since you don’t have practice now.”

Oh. Taekwoon blinks up at him. “Don’t you have practice though?” 

“I-It’s been cancelled today too! Because of-- Jinwoo! Because of his injury. They decided to cancel it last minute.” 

Taekwoon squints at him, lips pursed tightly. It’s a little strange to cancel practice for everyone because of one person getting injured, but-- “Are you sure it’s alright?”

“Hyung, do I look like the untrusting type?”

“That’s to be decided,” Taekwoon mumbles. He’s going to decline Sanghyuk, after all he isn’t usually one to go out to eat with others anyways. Doing things like this is only bothersome. Then again-- Taekwoon thinks back on the last time he rejected him. He doesn’t want to see that look on Sanghyuk’s face again. “Let’s go somewhere nearby, then.”

Sanghyuk beams and Taekwoon wonders if that’s the appropriate reaction to this kind of situation. 

-

“Is it alright to add you on Facebook?” Sanghyuk asks, a dozen french fries going into his mouth, one per second. Taekwoon wonders just how safe that is.

“Why’re you asking? You already sent me a friend request.” He glares at his cellphone screen, tapping the accept button.

“Can I tag you in my posts?” 

“Go ahead, I don’t care.”

“But, what about Won--”

“Hm?” 

“Oh, nevermind.” 

Sanghyuk’s grin is wide and bright and Taekwoon fears this boy is going to blind him.

-

“You’re pretty close with Hyukkie, huh?” Hakyeon says, slurping down his coffee in the loudest way possible. 

Jongdae bounces in his seat beside Yixing. “Right! That’s what I was thinking too!” His voice is grating at seven in the morning and Taekwoon wonders why all the annoying people like to flock to him. 

Everyone except Yixing, who is kind and calm and most importantly-- quiet. He’s a music student in the cultural arts courses and one of the few that Taekwoon can stand to be around with for prolonged periods of time. He, however, nods in agreement with both Hakyeon and Jongdae. “I have been hearing about you two pretty often.”

“We’re not close,” Taekwoon clarifies. 

“But, you’ve been hanging out with him a lot, right?” Hakyeon asks, showing Taekwoon a photo on his phone of when he went out to eat ramen with Sanghyuk the other day after school. “As usual, this boy posts everything.”

“When did he even take that picture--”

Jongdae sniffles softly beside Yixing. “Ma, looks like our boy’s all grown up.” 

“He had to leave the nest someday,” Yixing says, a hand patting Jongdae’s head in comfort. 

“Don’t just play along!” Taekwoon shouts, glaring at the two. “We’re just eating together, like what the four of us are doing right now.”

“Why’re you being so defensive? I just wanted to know if you two were close or not,” says Hakyeon, a look of innocence on his face. Taekwoon really hates his best friend.

“We’re sunbae and hoobae, that’s it.”

“Why does it say ‘getting treated by hyung’ and then a bunch of emoticons that I’m sure Hyuk is not using correctly,” Jongdae points out, squinting his eyes at the little ghost and turtle emoticons on Hakyeon’s phone. “The hell does that one even mean.” 

“Hyuk’s a good kid,” interrupts Yixing. “He helped me in the hall once when I was running an errand. I dropped a stack of notebooks.” 

“Sure,” the other three say in unison. It isn’t an unusual thing for Yixing to do. 

“He helped me carry them all the way back to the cultural arts division.” 

“I help you do that all the time,” Jongdae argues, “And you never call me a good kid!” 

“You also draw on his face while he’s sleeping, I’m sure that cancels that out,” Hakyeon says and Taekwoon nods in agreement. 

“Yixing looks good with a mustache, sue me.”

“Back on the real topic at hand,” says Hakyeon, taking one last obnoxious slurp from his drink. “Hwanie says he’s a good kid too. I think it’s nice you’re making friends outside of us.” 

“Excuse me, but who the hell is Hwanie?” 

“Lee Jaehwan,” explains Yixing. “A third year art student. He’s the top of the whole cultural arts division. Everyone has high hopes for him.” 

“Oh, I’ve heard of him! Didn’t he win some fancy-pants award for a painting?” Jongdae says with excitement. “He’s popular even in the sports courses.”

“And yet of course Taekwoon doesn’t even know who he is,” Hakyeon says with a matter of fact tone that makes the other scowl. “He’s childhood friends with Hyukkie. They’re really close.” 

“Why would I care about that?” Taekwoon grumbles, glancing out the window. What’s Hakyeon getting at? 

“I don’t know, just figured you might wanna know.” 

-

Saturday evening is calm and cool as Taekwoon carries a box of his sister’s favorite doughnuts home. She had texted him to buy her some since he was out at the cafe with Hakyeon, Jongdae, and Yixing. It isn’t unusual to think of him as her personal slave, but it’s not like he ever says no to her either. The air is refreshing as it breezes past him, gently making the branches above his head sway. He suddenly thinks about how soon it’ll be summer and the school will have its joint camping trip between both the cultural arts courses and sports courses. It’s hell every year with so many students, but Taekwoon’s always liked camping so he always participates every year. 

This year will be Sanghyuk’s first time and he’ll have to go through the test of courage that all first years are subjected to, the thought alone makes Taekwoon laugh. Will that kid be alright? Can he even handle scary things? Taekwoon remembers how terrified Hakyeon was in their first year, screaming loud enough for the entire campground to hear. Will Sanghyuk be like that? Maybe he likes scary things, maybe he’ll laugh and find the third years dressed as ghosts to be corny. He’s probably the type to be unfazed by things like that, Taekwoon can imagine him trying to hold a regular conversation with a ghost-- maybe ask if it’s getting cramps from crouching too long or something. 

Ah-- Taekwoon really wants to know more about Sanghyuk. 

“What are you all smiling about? It’s kind of creepy, hyung.” 

He blinks. It’s Sanghyuk, right in front of him with his hair wet and dressed in casual clothes. “I wasn’t smiling,” he says. 

Sanghyuk chuckles, “Yeah, you were. Oh, doughnuts! Do you like sweets, hyung?” 

Oh, right. He was on his way home. “They’re for my little sister.”

“You have a sister? Me too! Though, mine’s older and a total hag-- don’t tell her I said that.” 

Taekwoon snorts softly, “I have an older sister too, but she doesn’t live at home anymore. She’s married.” 

“Ohoho, you’re the middle child then? And the only boy? Are you problematic at home?” Sanghyuk has this mischievous look to his face that makes Taekwoon smack him across the back of his head. 

“I’m the golden child at home and school, don’t you forget it.” 

“Geez,” Sanghyuk whines, “You really don’t hold back.”

“What are you doing outside with your hair wet,” says Taekwoon. “You’ll catch a cold like that.”

“You talk like my mom,” he grins and manages to dodge when Taekwoon goes in to smack his head again. “I just got done taking a bath when I saw you being a creep in front of my house.” 

“You live here?” Taekwoon asks, looking up at the building behind he and Sanghyuk. It’s as basic as family homes get and nothing too far off from what Taekwoon’s house is like too. 

“Yup-- do you want to come in?” Sanghyuk has that tentative look he always gets whenever he asks Taekwoon to go out after school even though he’s asked over a dozen times by now. It makes it practically impossible for Taekwoon to want to say no. How can he when Sanghyuk looks at him like that? 

“Just for a little bit,” he says, blinking up at the first year who begins to beam at his answer. It’s like the two go hand in hand. Tentative look plus Taekwoon answering yes equals Sanghyuk beaming. 

“My mom’s at work and my sister’s out drinking with her friends,” he tells Taekwoon as they enter the house. Taekwoon follows after him, setting his box of doughnuts on the dining table as they pass it.

“What about your dad?” Taekwoon asks without thinking much about the question. “Is he at work too?” 

“My dad isn’t here anymore,” Sanghyuk answers.

“Oh, I-- sorry. I didn’t know, I didn’t meant to--” He’s so flustered. Why didn’t he think before speaking? Sanghyuk didn’t mention his father, so of course the man isn’t here anymore, but Taekwoon still asked and he’s so stupid, so rude--

“It’s alright, hyung,” Sanghyuk says, a soft smile on his face. “He passed away when I was little, so I don’t really remember him anyways. For as long as I can remember, it’s just been my mom and my sister, so it’s alright.” 

Taekwoon doesn’t feel any less stupid, but he nods, still feeling apologetic. Not everyone has a mom and not everyone has a dad. It doesn’t seem to bother Sanghyuk and so Taekwoon decides to not let it get to him any further.

“Do you want anything to drink?” He asks, head already halfway into the refrigerator.

“Uh, juice? I guess.”

“Sorry, we only have water,” he says, tossing Taekwoon a cold bottle of water.

“Don’t ask if that’s all you have,” Taekwoon says, uncapping the bottle and taking a big gulp from it.

Sanghyuk’s grinning at him. “You still drank it anyways.”

“It’d be rude not to,” he replies, rolling his eyes. It’s been so long since the last time he’s gone over to anyone beside Hakyeon’s house, he doesn’t really know what to do in this situation. He can’t just go up to Sanghyuk’s room and lay on his bed or start reading his manhwa or take a bath in his tub-- it’s still all too unfamiliar. 

“Hyukkie! My cute little brother, I’m home!”

The front door swings open and a rather flustered looking woman in her twenties stumbles in and she’s-- drunk.

“Hyukkie, I brought sushi home for din-- who’s this?” She shoves the sushi into his hands, fumbling forward to press her face uncomfortably close to Taekwoon’s. “Ooo, he’s cute, is he your--” 

“He’s my sunbae from school!” Sanghyuk interrupts, “Why’re you getting drunk in the middle of the day?”

“It’s already six o’clock! I have a right to be drunk whenever I damn well please.”

Sanghyuk lets out a defeated sigh. “I’m sorry about her hyung.”

“It’s, uh, it’s okay.” The whole situation is turning a little funny after all. This must be his older sister, the one he called a hag. She affectionately clings to him, pressing her cheek to his chin. Sanghyuk grumbles, but he looks used to it. 

“Hyukkie, I want to take a bath!” She announces, words beginning to slur. 

“Alright, alright. Go lay down and I’ll get the bath ready.” 

She nods silently, waving at Taekwoon as she immediately crashes on the couch. He’s never seen anyone drunk like this before, it makes him chuckle. Sanghyuk and his sister must be close. 

“I think I’ll head home,” he tells Sanghyuk, “It’s getting late.” 

“Yeah, sorry again about my sister.” 

“It’s fine,” he assures, bringing a hand up to ruffle Sanghyuk’s hair. “Next time make sure to dry your hair properly.” 

His ears are bright red when he swats Taekwoon’s hand away. “I’m not a kid!” 

Taekwoon finds the cool air to be much sweeter as he walks home, the sun painting the sky a bright orange before melting into a soft purple as it sets. He gets home just before it’s gone completely dark and the first to greet him is his younger sister Nahyun. 

She’s beaming up at him and he gently pats her head in response. “Where are my doughnuts?” 

“Your-- what?” 

-

“We’re finally finished with the sports festival!” Wonshik cheers, punching Taekwoon on the arm. “Now all that’s left is the summer camping trip and the cultural festival in the fall!” 

The sports festival had come and go in a flash, making Taekwoon feel like the weeks of preparations were all for nothing. It was a mediocre sports festival as it was every year. They had games and events and Taekwoon took home a cardboard medal for getting first in the relay race. Honestly, what are they? Grade schoolers? 

“We have exams before summer break,” Taekwoon reminds him. 

“Oh,” Wonshik stops right in the middle of the hall. “About that, I’ve asked someone else to tutor me.” 

“What? I mean, I don’t really care I guess, but who would tutor you?” 

“Uhm,” Wonshik says with a look of offence, “You were?”

“Because you gave me something else in return, if it weren’t for that I wouldn’t have ever let the thought cross my mind.” 

“That’s just rude and hurtful, hyung.”

Taekwoon shrugs. It’s true. Wonshik has the attention span of a fly and Taekwoon isn’t going anywhere near that. “Well, good luck to the poor sap.”

“You’re supposed to be wishing  _ me _ good luck!” 

“I think the other party needs it more.” 

Wonshik punches Taekwoon in the arm again, this time without much restraint. 

They’re on their way back from the cafeteria when they’re stopped in the hall by a first year that Taekwoon doesn’t know. He’s flustered and out of breath, a stack of papers in his hand. “Wonshik hyung! Thank God I ran into you! I have a date today after school, but the teacher is making me take this to Hyuk’s house and I need a big big favor--”

“Nope, not happening,” says Wonshik before the first year can even finish. “Is that why he skipped practice yesterday?” 

“He’s got a cold, but look, hyung--"

“I am not dropping that off at his house, I don’t even know where it is.”

“You’re a pretty heartless hyung, aren’t you?” Taekwoon says, observing from the side. 

“You’re even more heartless!” Wonshik defends. “Besides, the teacher told Sungjae here to go, not me.” 

“Hyung! I’ll introduce you to my girlfriend’s classmates! They’re all really cute--”

“I’ll go,” says Taekwoon which makes Wonshik spit out his chocolate milk, spraying it across Sungjae’s face. 

“Y-You want to be introduced to first year girls that badly?” Wonshik says, chocolate milk dripping from his chin. Taekwoon scowls at him.

“Hand me the papers, I’ll take them free of charge you idiots.”

Sungjae obliges easily, still in complete awe. Wonshik bears a similar look. It’s not that strange is it? Taekwoon occasionally does a good thing every now and then, they’re the ones overreacting. 

-

Sanghyuk’s house is exactly as Taekwoon remembers it and he hesitates before ringing the doorbell. He didn’t think about it before, but is it alright for him to come over like this? Will his mom or sister be home? It’s suddenly beginning to feel very awkward and Taekwoon wonders what it was exactly that possessed him to offer up his free time to go drop off homework to Sanghyuk. 

He shakes away his thoughts. He’s already here, there’s no going back. 

It only takes a few seconds after Taekwoon’s rung the doorbell for it to open, a messy haired Sanghyuk dressed in a ratty old t-shirt and sweats staring down at him. His cheeks are red and his nose is runny and Taekwoon blinks up at him. 

“You shouldn’t be out of bed,” is the first thing he says. 

“Hyung, what are you doing here--”

“The sick should be resting,” Taekwoon interrupts, pushing Sanghyuk back in and inviting himself inside as well.

“Okay, but--”

“Have you eaten yet?” 

“No--”

“Alright, go back to bed and I’ll borrow your kitchen for a bit. I only bought the instant kind of porridge though, I hope you’re fine with that.” 

“I--” Sanghyuk begins, but pauses as he sees Taekwoon staring back at him for an answer. “It’s fine.” 

Taekwoon shoos him away like a mother hen and Sanghyuk is too sick to put up any sort of a fight, so he resigns to his bed. It only takes a few minutes for the water to boil and Taekwoon makes his way up to Sanghyuk’s room. It’s pushy and meddlesome of him, but he can’t help it-- not after seeing Sanghyuk with his nose all red. Sanghyuk’s room is the first door on the left, a bright red sign reading ‘Hyukkie’ painted on with little green dinosaur stickers decorating it. It looks old, paint chipping and stickers frayed at the edges. It makes Taekwoon laugh. 

“Who’s out there making fun of my innocent childhood memories?” Sanghyuk calls from his bed, his speech is muffled and Taekwoon takes that moment to enter. 

Sanghyuk is indeed in bed, a mop of brown hair sticking out in tufts and a medical mask over his face. He looks sleepy and Taekwoon feels bad. “Did I wake you?”

“I wasn’t sleeping,” he says, clearly lying. Taekwoon sets the tray of porridge on Sanghyuk’s bedside table, a small plastic cup of orange pudding beside it. He looks at the pudding, expression hidden by the mask. “You got me pudding.”

“There’s more, but I put it in the fridge,” Taekwoon says.

“Don’t tell me you came all this way just to take care of me?” 

Taekwoon blinks at him, blood rushing to his face. How can he just say something so embarrassing like that? “Don’t be ridiculous. I brought your homework, your classmate-- Sungjoon asked me to. Also, I’m still banned from practice, so it’s not like I’m here just because I have free time, okay?” 

Even with the mask on, Taekwoon knows when he’s being laughed at and Sanghyuk is in no way trying to hide it. “Hyung, I was just teasing you. Thank you for bringing my homework and the porridge and the pudding too.”

“I couldn’t come see a sick person empty handed,” he explains. “Be more grateful.”

“I am,” Sanghyuk says, eyes sparkling. “I’m really grateful.”

There’s a lull after that, one where Taekwoon isn’t sure what he’s supposed to say or do anymore. Sanghyuk is sincere and Taekwoon only knows how to deal with snarky people who joke and tease and Taekwoon doesn’t know what to do with dazzling bright boys who get stars caught in their eyes. 

They must have missed the sound of the front door opening, because before Taekwoon can even try to figure out the look in Sanghyuk’s eyes, the grating cries of an unexpected guest have Taekwoon jumping. 

“Han Sanghyuk! How could you get sick right before the opening week of my exhibit, I am absolutely-- who the hell is this?” 

It feels somewhat like a replay of the first time Taekwoon came to visit and he’s completely caught off guard all over again when the boy with wavy chestnut hair and round spectacles shoves his face into Taekwoon’s. 

“Wait, I know who you are-- you’re Jung Taekwoon from the sports courses, aren’t you? You went to nationals last year, but didn’t win anything.” 

“Hyung!” Sanghyuk yells, immediately sitting up. 

“What? I’m just starting the truth. You shouldn’t hang out with a nobody like him, Sanghyuk, you’ll look bad. He can’t compare to a top tier student like me after all, isn’t that right?” 

Taekwoon blinks at the stranger. “Who are you?”

“Who am-- I’m Lee Jaehwan!” He’s fuming, but Taekwoon still has no idea who he is.

“Am I supposed to know you or something--” 

“I’m the prodigious art student! I’ve won countless awards since I was six years old! I’m at the top of the entire cultural arts courses, famous among the entire school, even meathead sports students know who I am!” 

“It sounds pathetic when it’s coming out of your own mouth,” a second boy says, coming in from behind Jaehwan and chopping the back of his neck. “I’m Lee Hongbin, by the way. It’s nice to meet the track team’s star.” 

“I’m actually just the captain, but it’s nice to meet you too. I’m Jung Taekwoon.” 

“Don’t ignore me!” Jaehwan cries. 

Sanghyuk sighs heavily to the side. “What are you two even doing here?”

“How mean, we came to visit you. Jaehwan’s been crying all day about how you’re going to miss his exhibit this weekend.” 

“It’s all the damn sports festival’s fault! They’ve worked you too hard, didn’t they? This is why I hate the sports courses, nothing but undignified meatheads who chase rabbits down holes.” Jaehwan looks directly at Taekwoon, a smug grin on his face.

Taekwoon furrows his brow. Why’s he looking at him? 

“Jaehwan hyung, you’re being rude,” Sanghyuk says as he glares at Jaehwan. “I’m sorry for him, hyung.” 

Taekwoon only shakes his head. “I’m not offended, don’t worry. Why would the words of someone I don’t even know bother me?” 

Jaehwan is speechless, steam blowing out of his ears as his face turns beet red. Hongbin on the other hand is bursting out into laughter, hands coming up to hold his side. “I can’t believe you just said that.”

“It’s the truth,” Taekwoon says matter of fact, standing to gather his things. “I’ll be taking my leave now. It was a pleasure to meet you two. Get better, Hyuk.” 

“Oh, bye hyung--”

“Wait, I’m not done talking to you!” Jaehwan cries, but Taekwoon ignores him, brushing past him as he leaves. 

He can still hear shouting and laughing, but his mind is blanking out by the time he’s outside. What was that back there? Why was he putting on such a calm demeanor? He wanted to punch that goddamn Lee Jaehwan in the face. But-- but he doesn’t know why. He doesn’t know why he’s so irritated. He’s had people say bad things about him before, he’s heard countless cultural arts students talk down on sports students and he has never given a damn before. 

And that’s just it-- he isn’t one bit bothered by what Jaehwan said about him. So why is he so upset? What is this burning feeling in his chest? 

Why is he so frustrated that it was so simple for him, so easy for Jaehwan to come in-- to go into Sanghyuk’s room and talk to him comfortably and whine and be scolded and do as he pleases without worrying? Why are Hakyeon’s words suddenly coming back to him?

_ “He’s childhood friends with Hyukkie. They’re really close.”  _

So what? Taekwoon is really close with Hakyeon. They go into each other homes unannounced all the time. It isn’t a weird thing, especially for childhood friends. It’s natural. It’s normal. It’s to be expected. So why is what Taekwoon feeling isn’t? 

_ “I don’t know, just figured you might wanna know.”  _

-

“Hey, banned kids aren’t allowed to be using the field,” Jongdae calls from the stands, an umbrella over his head. 

Taekwoon can barely see him through the rain and it’s only by voice that he can tell who it is. He ignores him, starting another lap and another and another and the rain feels so heavy as it relentlessly hits against his skin. He’s panting hard, out of breath and yet his mind is telling him to continue. His feet hurt and his muscles are screaming, but he doesn’t feel the least bit tired. It’s strange, he thinks, maybe it’s because of the rain. 

“You’re going to get sick!” Jongdae screams, still waiting for Taekwoon by the stands. Huh, that’s weird. He thought Jongdae left a long time ago. 

He continues to run like that, body tired, but mind restless. It feels both freeing and confining. 

It isn’t until his fifth set that his legs give out and he’s face down in a puddle. He’s sure Jongdae is over by the stands laughing at him, but the sound must be drowned out by the rain. Taekwoon stays like that for a few minutes, unsure if it’s because his legs don’t work anymore or if he just wants to be there. 

“Stop being so lame,” says Hakyeon as he drags Taekwoon to his legs, slinging his arm over his shoulder. “I’m getting soaked because of you.”

“Where’s Jongdae?” Taekwoon croaks out and his throat feels so dry. 

“Distracting the infirmary nurse so we can sneak you in,” he answers and from underneath Taekwoon’s bangs he can see Yixing waiting closeby with an umbrella. God, he really is being lame-- he’s got them all worried over him. 

The infirmary is unlocked and empty when they arrive and Hakyeon tosses Taekwoon onto the closest bed. He can already feel the sheets dampening because of how soaked he is from the rain. Yixing hands him a towel and his duffel bag where he keeps his uniform and he quickly changes and dries off. 

“You want to tell us why you were running in the rain?” Hakyeon asks, brow raised.

“I was running before school, so it’s technically not practice and--”

“So, no. You don’t want to tell us.”

Taekwoon blinks at him. It’s not that-- it’s not like he doesn’t want to tell them. “I was trying to get my thoughts together.”

Hakyeon purses his lips, but doesn’t say anymore on the matter. “You should sleep until first period’s over.” Without another word, both he and Yixing turn to leave and Taekwoon feels like absolute crap for doing this to his closest friends. They’re only worried over him and well, he can’t let them worry. He stands to his feet, taking in a deep breath and throwing his duffel bag right at the back of Hakyeon’s head. 

“What the fu--” 

“I’m not like you heathens, I don’t skip class,” he says, grinning. 

Yixing smiles softly at him, “I don’t skip class either.” 

“Of course not,” Hakyeon grumbles, picking up Taekwoon’s bag and tossing it back at him. “Jongdae’s the only heathen among us.” 

-

“Ah-choo!” 

Wonshik drops his bag. “Oh God, are you sick?”

“It was just a sneeze,” says Taekwoon, rubbing his nose. “Probably from dust or something.”

“You were soaked this morning when I saw you,” Wonshik tells him. “This is why you always need to bring umbrellas to school! You never know when it will rain.”

Taekwoon doesn’t want to explain to Wonshik that he was actually practicing in the rain this morning and instead slings his arm over the second year, purposely sneezing on the other’s shoulder. 

“That’s unsanitary!” Wonshik cries, picking up his bag and shoving Taekwoon off him. 

“You’re the least sanitary person in the world,” Taekwoon says, shaking his head in disbelief. “Once, you dropped a piece of tofu on the floor and then picked it up and ate it.”

“I’ve turned a new leaf,” says Wonshik, smugly for some goddamn reason. “Say farewell to the old Kim Wonshik.”

Taekwoon blinks at him. “Who are you.”

“The new Kim Wonshik, I just got done telling you that-- look, the sunbae who’s tutoring me doesn’t like messy people, so I’m trying to impress him.”

Taekwoon continues to blink at him. “Who are you.”

“Stop that.”

“No, seriously, who are you? Being neat and clean to impress a sunbae? A male sunbae? A male?” 

Wonshik gives him the bird. “There are people in this world that are deserving of my respect and some that aren’t, you fall into the latter category.” 

“I guess,” says Taekwoon, still gobsmacked. Even people like Wonshik have people they want to change for too, he supposes. 

“Oh! There he is-- that’s weird, why’s he in the sports division and on the first year’s floor too.” He runs off, waving down a familiar silhouette. “Jaehwan hyung!” 

“Wonshik!” He grins, smiling fondly at the second year and Taekwoon feels like his stomach just dropped all the way to the floor. He sees Sanghyuk poke his head through the door of the first year’s classroom, looking at all of them standing in the hall. 

“What are you doing here?” Wonshik asks and Jaehwan begins to fold his arms like a scolding mother.

“Just checking up on Sanghyuk, he’s not one-hundred percent recovered, but he insisted on going to school today.” 

“You can go back to your class now,” says Sanghyuk pushing Jaehwan away before turning to greet Taekwoon. “Hi hyung.”

Jaehwan scrunches up his face at the sight. “Oh, I didn’t see you there. Really, you lack so much presence.” 

“You two know each other?” Wonshik asks.

“We met the day I went to give Sanghyuk his homework,” Taekwoon explains, his usual scowl on his face.

Jaehwan’s grin is shit eating and wide. “He ran away from my great presence, though I guess that is what happens to the weak.” 

“I know!” Sanghyuk suddenly interjects, “Wonshik hyung, why don’t you walk Jaehwan hyung back to class?”

The look on Jaehwan’s face quickly fades and he blinks at Sanghyuk. “I’m perfectly capable of walking myself back to class, Sanghyuk--”

“Go. Now.” Sanghyuk’s eyes are furious slits at the third year and Jaehwan looks flabbergasted.

“Fine,” he sneers, pulling on Wonshik’s sleeve. “Come on, we can go see Hongbin on our way.” 

“Later hyung,” Wonshik waves before trailing off after Jaehwan. 

Taekwoon’s scowl lessens, but he’s still irritated by the sheer sight of Jaehwan’s face. What a punchable dude. 

“I’m sorry for him again,” Sanghyuk sighs. “And for the other day too.”

“What about the other day?” Taekwoon asks, clicking his tongue. Next time, next time he’ll punch Jaehwan. 

“Well, you looked really upset…”

Oh. Taekwoon feels embarrassed, he thought he had done a good job at covering that up. What’s with today making him realize what a giant kid he is?  Even Sanghyuk is easily seeing through him and they haven’t even known each other that long. He feels absolutely silly, but the thought alone makes him smile. He brings a hand up to ruffle through Sanghyuk’s hair. “I’m fine now,” he reassures, “Thanks for worrying.” 

Sanghyuk grins back up at him, ears red. “Stop doing that hyung, I’m taller than you.” 

“But still two years younger.”

“It’s only two years!” He fumes, but it’s almost endearing-- “Oh, yeah. I forgot to pay you back for the pudding and doughnuts.”

“Doughnuts? What doughnuts?” 

“The ones for your little sister-- geez, it’s like you have the memory of a goldfish.” He sighs before shaking his head, “My sister ate them all by the way.” 

Oh, right. The doughnuts. Nahyun had given him absolute hell after he returned empty handed, but perhaps Sanghyuk is right-- maybe Taekwoon does have the memory of a goldfish. “It’s already forgotten, don’t worry about it.” 

“It’s impolite!” Sanghyuk cries, “How about I just treat you to something then?” 

“I’ve already treated you to five different meals, are you saying you’re going to pay me back for all those times too?” He chuckles softly, making Sanghyuk glare at him.

“Then...then give me your number, hyung! I’ll call you when I think of what to pay you back with.”

Taekwoon blinks at him, seeing the all too familiar tentative look on Sanghyuk’s face, as if he isn’t sure it’s okay to be asking for Taekwoon’s phone number. It’s almost cute-- the way Sanghyuk gets like this. “Alright, fine.”

-

The morning of the camping trip is always absolute chaos, students run here and there while advisors and chaperones try to take count of everyone before the buses arrive and even then it’s still a mess trying to get everyone on board. They’re still a relatively small school-- being new and all, so there aren’t as many students in the entirety of the school as there would be in others, but this is the first time since Taekwoon’s enrollment that so many are participating. There has to be over a hundred students all clamoring and shouting over each other. 

“I hate mornings,” says Hakyeon as he slurps loudly from his coffee. “Yixing is so lucky he has work this weekend.” 

Taekwoon grumbles in response. Neither he nor Hakyeon are necessarily morning people, both having low blood pressure so early. He takes a slow sip from his own coffee, too far gone to even be bothered by Hakyeon’s slurping. 

“I take it that Jongdae’s skipping too, huh?” 

Taekwoon shrugs. He can’t talk right now, he’s too busy trying to not to fall over and go back to sleep. Somehow, from across the crowded courtyard, Wonshik spots the two and heads over, chipper as ever. 

“I never knew you were a morning person,” says Hakyeon, rubbing his temples. “You look like the type who always sleeps in and is late to everything.”

“Good morning to you too princess,” Wonshik says, huffing. “I’m the new Kim Wonshik.”

“The-- what? Is this like the lonely maid of the twelfth grade thing again, because I gotta tell you, this one doesn’t rhyme.” 

“I knew that was just something you two made up,” says Taekwoon abruptly, stirring awake.

“What bus are you two taking? I think I’ll hitch a ride with the third years.”

“Oh, no,” says Hakyeon, shaking his head. “I plan on sleeping until we get there and I won’t be able to do that with you talking.”

“Why not? I’ll be good.”

“Hm,” Hakyeon continues to shake his head. “By the way, how’d you do on your exams?” 

Wonshik blanches before giving Hakyeon the bird and trotting off to go find some other third year bus to tag along with. He must not have done that well even with his oh so great tutor. 

“It’s Jaehwan,” says Taekwoon before yawning, “He’s trying to get on the same bus as Jaehwan.”

“Too bad Jongdae’s not here, all the heathens could be gathered in one bus together.”

Taekwoon snorts softly. Ah yes, he’s always enjoyed snarky-not-enough-sleep Hakyeon. 

The campground is a lavishly large area secluded off by a lake with a few patches of woods here and there. In the center of the woods is a mossy old cave that they use for the test of courage, but during the day it’s closed off to visitors. There are two large cabins set for the park rangers as well as for the teachers advising the trip and chaperones. The students all bunk together in tents provided by the school and have access to the outdoor kitchen and public bathroom. Taekwoon’s always preferred sleeping in a tent anyways, though his roommate Hakyeon would much rather complain. 

They set up their tent as soon as they arrive, the sleep out of their systems and Taekwoon begins to feel excited. He’s always liked camping with his dad for as long as he can remember and even though it’s a pain, he looks forward to the school’s trip every year. 

“I can’t believe we have to fish for our own dinner,” says Hakyeon, groaning at the sight of the fishing rods. “Might as well just let us starve to death.”

“I’ll catch your share too,” says Taekwoon, beaming despite his usual stoic look. 

“It’s so hot, how can you be excited?” 

“It’s the one time to be happy about being outside,” he says simply, nodding. 

“Oh! Hyukkie and Binnie, come join us too!” Hakyeon calls over to the two from across the camp grounds.

Sanghyuk’s in casual clothing again, shorts and a striped t-shirt with a silly cartoon fish logo. He looks like an overgrown kid and Taekwoon has to stifle his laughter.

“Ah! You just laughed at me again, didn’t you hyung?” Sanghyuk is quick to accuse when he reaches the third years. “Don’t laugh at my shirt, it was a gift from Jaehwan hyung.” 

“An ugly gift,” says Hongbin, making a face. “You guys gonna go fishing?”

“Yes, it’s all Taekwoon was looking forward to as soon as we arrived,” Hakyeon groans. “I hate fishing.” 

“That’s only because you can’t stay still for more than five minutes.”

“I was born with a dancer’s body,” he says dramatically, “I must always be on the move.”

“And yet you failed to get into that prestigious dance academy,” says Hongbin.

“Don’t talk about that,” grumbles Hakyeon, “it’s a sore spot.”

“How is it a sore spot, you told everyone in the entire cultural arts courses.”

Taekwoon snorts softly. Yeah, that sounds like Hakyeon. He really fits perfectly into the drama department. 

“So, you like fishing, hyung?” Sanghyuk asks when they’re finished setting up their rods, each baited and cast. 

“Not really, but I’m good at it and I used to go with my dad a lot when I was younger.”

“Why’d you guys stop?” 

“He got busy with work,” Taekwoon answers, staring blankly at a spot in the lake. “Normal stuff, I guess.”

They’re both silent for a while after that, Hakyeon and Hongbin off to the side arguing over something trivial and Taekwoon feels like time has stopped for just a short moment before Sanghyuk speaks, voice soft and warm.

“I wonder if fishing with my dad would feel like this-- I mean, not that I view you as my dad or something, but I just-- I feel really at peace when I’m with you hyung. Does that make sense? It’s like, this is what being...free is like.”

Taekwoon blinks at him. How the hell can he keep spouting this embarrassing crap without batting an eyelash? “You’re...the only person who’d ever say that about me.” 

Sanghyuk’s laughter is bright and cheerful and not at all bashful. “Not even Hakyeon hyung?”

“Especially Hakyeon.”

“I’m sure he thinks it,” says Sanghyuk. “He’s just too shy or something.”

“Cha Hakyeon? Shy? I don’t think so.” Taekwoon shakes his head. Hakyeon’s the kind of guy who goes in with guns blazing. 

“But, I mean it. You’re really fun to be around with.” 

“Even more fun than with Jaehwan?” The words are out before Taekwoon can even think about what he’s saying. Why’s he trying to ruin the moment by bringing up Jaehwan? 

However, Sanghyuk’s grin is wide when he reassures him. “Yup. Even more fun than Jaehwan hyung. You don’t really care about things that don’t interest you. It’s like, you have your goal and that’s all that matters, it’s really admirable and makes being with you so fun. Jaehwan hyung has so many things he’s concerned with that it’s overwhelming honestly. But you’re not like that at all-- you don’t let things get to you.”

Oh. Taekwoon’s cheeks feels hot, but he isn’t sure if that’s from the blush burning across his face or from the heat of the sun-- but, maybe Sanghyuk is just the equivalent to the sun. He didn’t know how highly Sanghyuk thought of him and it’s unnerving having the sudden expectation that he doesn’t let things get to him. Lots of things get to him and Taekwoon can’t help but feel like he’s betraying that image. 

“I wish that were the case,” he mumbles, looking away to stare at the lake in front of them. The fishing lines remain completely still and the sound of cicadas buzz around them. 

Sanghyuk looks regretful, shifting awkwardly. “I’m sorry,” he says, voice small. “Was that too presumptuous of me?” 

“No,” Taekwoon immediately says, shaking his head. “A lot of things bother me, actually. I get easily flustered or annoyed. I’m quick to anger and I’m rough and rude. I’m just-- how can you praise me so much?” 

“Well, to even it out, yeah. You are rough and rude. But you’re also kind and caring too. You take care of me and Wonshik hyung and everyone on the track team, don’t you? You’re amazing, hyung.”

“Stop that,” Taekwoon says, clearly embarrassed. He shoves Sanghyuk away. 

The younger boy laughs, unfazed by his own words. “Look, you’re being all cute right now too.”

“I am not cute,” he huffs. Now he’s just being teased. 

Sanghyuk looks like he’s going to go back into a whole tirade about how great and life changing Taekwoon is until they’re interrupted by Hakyeon and Hongbin who somehow manage to get all four fishing lines tangled. 

Later that night is the test of courage that all first years are subjected to take. It’s mostly a tradition started by the third years from when Taekwoon was a first year and so supervision from the teachers isn’t necessary, but Taekwoon’s always felt that some of the scare tactics are questionable. There’s a gaggle of third years already planning and getting things ready when Hakyeon slumps against his side, tired and cranky as ever. 

“I don’t understand why all of us had to tag along, I’m not even gonna be scaring any of these little shits anyways,” he sighs with defeat, shooting a quick glare to the third year’s defacto leader-- Lee Changsub. It’s rare for most cultural arts students to participate in the camping trip and even more rare for them to take charge in the test of courage. If Taekwoon recalls correctly, Changsub is friends with Minhyuk and their ilk -- a similar situation as Taekwoon and Hakyeon’s, despite being in opposing departments. 

“It’ll be fun to watch,” says Taekwoon, catching the eyes of a few first years who look like they’re going to shit their pants. The test of courage is a simple one, hardly scary at all. It’s the eerie woods surrounding them and dark cave riddled with insects and hollow echoes that usually freak people out. The objective of the test is an easy one: place a candle with your name written on it at the back of the cave. The only real scare is one of the third years dresses up like a ghost and hides behind a huge boulder towards the back and jumps out to scare you before you can place your candle down. Taekwoon can remember how positively terrified Hakyeon was when the ghost popped out, his shriek is still embedded into his memory. 

He spots Sanghyuk with his friend Sungjae a few feet over, crowding with the rest of the first years and he gives him an encouraging nod. To his credit, Sanghyuk doesn’t look the least bit bothered by everything, especially as an owl flutters by the group and sends at least five boys into panic. 

“Alright kiddos,” Changsub announces, getting everyone’s attention. “This year we’ve decided to change it up a little since someone forgot to bring candles.” He glances accusingly at a shorter male beside him before continuing, “There’s a small spring in the back of the cave. We want you to fill up a bottle of water and bring it back.” 

“That’s even simpler than the candle,” says Hakyeon sleepily, but Changsub ignores him.

“It’s a quick round trip, the teachers don’t want us up too late and we don’t want a repeat of last year when Donggeun and Kyungsoo got lost. Anyways, pair up and line up!” 

Taekwoon watches as nervous first years pile around the entrance in the neatest way possible as Changsub and some other third years direct them. A few second years are spectating, but most usually skip out on the event and Taekwoon can’t blame them. Some first years who pretend to be tough easily make their way to the front of the line and Taekwoon can see Sanghyuk among them. 

He’s grinning and almost looks excited, the exact opposite of Sungjae.

“Ten bucks says Hyukkie 


End file.
